Isolating /sup 241/Am from waste solutions containing Al, Ca, Fe, and Cr

Technical Report · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1982

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5644483· OSTI ID:5644483

Gray, L W; Burney, G A; King, C M

About 2.4 kg of /sup 241/Am contaminated with calcium and aluminum had been recovered from low-activity waste during recycle of 11% /sup 240/Pu. A process was developed and demonstrated to purify the americium before shipment as /sup 241/AmO/sub 2/. The americium and some of the calcium were batch extracted into 50% TBP-n-paraffin from 2.2M Al(NO/sub 3/)/sub 3/ - 0.3M HNO/sub 3/ solution in a canyon tank. Pregnant solvent was scrubbed first with 2.1M Al/sup 3 +/-0.3M Li/sup +/-6.7M NO/sub 3/- and then with 7M LiNO/sub 3/ to reduce the calcium content and to displace the aluminum. Americium was then stripped from the solvent with water and concentrated by evaporation. Before precipitating the americium with oxalic acid, the nitric acid was adjusted with NH/sub 4/OH to yield a 1M NH/sub 4/NO/sub 3/ solution. Recovery across the batch extraction step was 97.8%, while 93% of the calcium and >99% of the aluminum was rejected. Recovery across precipitation averaged >96% while producing a product which was >99.3% pure /sup 241/AmO/sub 2/. The major impurities were water, carbon, calcium, iron, and zinc.

• Research Organization: Du Pont de Nemours (E.I.) and Co., Aiken, SC (USA). Savannah River Lab.
• DOE Contract Number: AC09-76SR00001
• OSTI ID: 5644483
• Report Number(s): DP-1581; ON: DE82009005
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

050800* -- Nuclear Fuels-- Spent Fuels Reprocessing
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
400105 -- Separation Procedures
ACTINIDE COMPOUNDS
ACTINIDE ISOTOPES
ACTINIDE NUCLEI
ACTINIDES
ALKALI METAL COMPOUNDS
ALKALINE EARTH METALS
ALKANES
ALPHA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
ALUMINIUM
ALUMINIUM COMPOUNDS
ALUMINIUM NITRATES
AMERICIUM
AMERICIUM 241
AMERICIUM COMPOUNDS
AMERICIUM ISOTOPES
AMERICIUM OXIDES
AMMONIUM COMPOUNDS
AMMONIUM HYDROXIDES
BUTYL PHOSPHATES
CALCIUM
CARBON
CARBOXYLIC ACIDS
CHALCOGENIDES
DATA
DICARBOXYLIC ACIDS
ELEMENTS
ESTERS
EVAPORATION
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
EXTRACTION
HEAVY NUCLEI
HYDROCARBONS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
HYDROXIDES
IMPURITIES
INFORMATION
INORGANIC ACIDS
IRON
ISOTOPES
LITHIUM COMPOUNDS
LITHIUM NITRATES
METALS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NITRATES
NITRIC ACID
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NONMETALS
NUCLEI
NUMERICAL DATA
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
ORGANIC ACIDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC PHOSPHORUS COMPOUNDS
OTHER ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXALIC ACID
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PARAFFIN
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
PHOSPHORIC ACID ESTERS
PLUTONIUM 240
PLUTONIUM ISOTOPES
PRECIPITATION
PURIFICATION
RADIOISOTOPES
RECOVERY
REPROCESSING
SAVANNAH RIVER PLANT
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SOLVENT EXTRACTION
TBP
TRANSITION ELEMENTS
TRANSPLUTONIUM COMPOUNDS
TRANSPLUTONIUM ELEMENTS
TRANSURANIUM COMPOUNDS
TRANSURANIUM ELEMENTS
US AEC
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS
WAXES
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
ZINC