Recovery of Am-Cm from high-activity waste concentrate by in-canyon-tank precipitation as oxalates

Conference · Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1980

OSTI ID:5201212

Gray, L W; Burney, G A; Wilson, T W; McKibben, J M

Savannah River Laboratory and Savannah River Plant have been separating actinides for more than 25 years. Work continues to upgrade processes and to initiate new processes. This report summarizes work on a precipitation process to separate kg amounts of Am and Cm from hundreds of kilograms of NaNO/sub 3/ and Al(NO/sub 3/)/sub 3/. The developed process includes formic acid denitration of the Am-Cm bearing streams for acid adjustment; oxalate precipitation of the Am-Cm; and Mn/sup +2/ catalyzed oxidation of oxalate in both the decanted supernate and the precipitated actinides. The new process generates one fourth the radioactive waste as the solvent extraction process which it replaced, and produces a cleaner feed solution for downstream processing to separate the Am and Cm before conversion to their respective oxides.

• Research Organization: Du Pont de Nemours (E.I.) and Co., Aiken, SC (USA). Savannah River Lab.
• DOE Contract Number: AC09-76SR00001
• OSTI ID: 5201212
• Report Number(s): DP-MS-80-35; CONF-800814-5; TRN: 80-013355
• Resource Relation: Conference: 180. American Chemical Society meeting/2. chemical congress of the North American Continent, Las Vegas, NV, USA, 24 Aug 1980
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
AMERICIUM
RECOVERY
CURIUM
ALUMINIUM NITRATES
DENITRATION
FORMIC ACID
OXALATES
OXIDATION
PRECIPITATION
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SODIUM NITRATES
ACTINIDES
ALKALI METAL COMPOUNDS
ALUMINIUM COMPOUNDS
CARBOXYLIC ACID SALTS
CARBOXYLIC ACIDS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
ELEMENTS
METALS
MONOCARBOXYLIC ACIDS
NITRATES
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC ACIDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
SODIUM COMPOUNDS
TRANSPLUTONIUM ELEMENTS
TRANSURANIUM ELEMENTS
052001* - Nuclear Fuels- Waste Processing