Industrial Treatment of Solutions of Fission Products. Separation of Cesium-137; TRAITEMENT INDUSTRIEL DE SOLUTIONS DE PRODUITS DE FISSION. SEPARATION DU CESIUM 137
Two types of chemical treatment can be considered for the manufacture of solid sources for industrial uses from fission product solutions remaining after plutonium extraction. One involves concentration of the solution and preparation of solid sources from the bulk material, without separation, and the other is separation of one or several fission products from which the sources are made. Examination of the radiochemical composition of the mixture of fission products that will be available from the Marcoule reactors (Gl, G2, and G3) shows that cesium-137 accounts for 30 per cent of the gamma energy available immediately after the plutonium separation, 70 per cent two years later and 100 per cent after five years. There is practically no advantage in making sources from bulk fission products, since the separation of cesium-137 is no more complicated and yet it results in a material with more potential uses. The separation of cesium- 137 by a method based on the standard phosphotungstate precipitation method has been considered. Previously, the precipituted cesium phosphotungstate was dissolved and cesium was recovered from the solution by cation-exchange or by removal of phosphate and tungstate ions by anion-exchange. A study has now been made, of the metathesis of cesium phosphotungstate to barium phosphate and tungstate by the action of barium hydroxide, the cesium being obtained in solution as the hydroxide. The advantages of this new procedure are: greater decontamination of cesium-137 without further purification, possibility of direct transformation to cesium sulfate, general simplification of the procedure and, consequently, of the equipment, (auth)
- Research Organization:
- France. Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique, Paris
- NSA Number:
- NSA-14-010508
- OSTI ID:
- 4157315
- Report Number(s):
- CEA-1214
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: Orig. Receipt Date: 31-DEC-60
- Country of Publication:
- France
- Language:
- English
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