Radiochemical separation of neptunium and plutonium from leaching of reactor waste glass in brine solutions

Conference · Wed Oct 03 04:00:00 EDT 1979

OSTI ID:5879420

Rego, J

The work described in this paper is part of a leaching study being conducted for the Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratory's Waste Isolation Safety Assessment Program. Simulated high-level reactor waste glass was leached with three solutions, one of which was a saturated-salt brine. Because chemical separation of Np and Pu using organic extraction or anionic exchange is not effective for the brine samples, a procedure has been developed to first separate neptunium and plutonium from high concentrations of brine before proceeding with an extraction of neptunium from plutonium. Samples were equilibrated with tracers, Np and Pu were co-precipitated with La(OH)/sub 3/, and interfering ions were removed by washing the hydroxide precipitate with water. Pu and Np were separated by reducing Pu to Pu/sup 3 +/ and extracting the Np/sup 4 +/ into thenoyltrifluoroacetone; control of oxidation states and contaminant concentration is critical.

• Research Organization: California Univ., Livermore (USA). Lawrence Livermore Lab.
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 5879420
• Report Number(s): UCRL-82798; CONF-791049-3
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

052002 -- Nuclear Fuels-- Waste Disposal & Storage
054000 -- Nuclear Fuels-- Health & Safety
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
400105* -- Separation Procedures
ACTINIDES
BRINES
COPRECIPITATION
DISSOLUTION
ELEMENTS
EXTRACTION
HETEROCYCLIC COMPOUNDS
HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
KETONES
LEACHING
MANAGEMENT
METALS
NEPTUNIUM
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC FLUORINE COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC SULFUR COMPOUNDS
PLUTONIUM
PRECIPITATION
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SOLVENT EXTRACTION
TRANSURANIUM ELEMENTS
TTA
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTES