Fermium purification using TEVA{trademark} resin extraction chromatography

Journal Article · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1997 · Separation Science and Technology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1080/01496399708003188· OSTI ID:471740

Porter, C E; Riley, Jr, F D; Vandergrift, R D; Felker, L K ^[1]

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1. Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)

The Radiochemical Engineering Development Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory processes irradiated targets to recover the transplutonium actinides for research and industrial users. In a typical processing campaign, dekagram quantities of curium are recovered for recycle into targets for subsequent irradiation and processing; decigram quantities of californium are recovered for fabrication into neutron sources; and milligram quantities of einsteinium and berkelium as well as picogram quantities of fermium are recovered for distribution to the research community. The transcurium actinides are separated in a series of chromatographic elutions using a cation-exchange resin and ammonium {alpha}-hydroxyisobutyrate as the eluant. The fermium fraction from these final purification runs still contains significant amounts of rare earth fission products, such as yttrium, dysprosium, and holmium. In the most recent campaign, a process using a TEVA{trademark} resin extraction chromatography column was developed and tested to determine its effectiveness in providing a fermium product free of rare earth fission products. Gamma spectroscopy indicated that dysprosium and holmium were reduced to levels less than minimum detectable limits and that only 0.07 pg of {sup 91}Y remained in the final fermium product, which contained 0.5 pg of {sup 257}Fm. An overall decontamination factor of {approximately}10{sup 3} was achieved for fission product removal.

• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-84OR21400
• OSTI ID: 471740
• Report Number(s): CONF-951057--
• Journal Information: Separation Science and Technology, Journal Name: Separation Science and Technology Journal Issue: 1-4 Vol. 32; ISSN 0149-6395; ISSN SSTEDS
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

40 CHEMISTRY
EXTRACTION CHROMATOGRAPHY
FERMIUM
GAMMA SPECTROSCOPY
PURIFICATION