The influence of plutonium concentration and solution flow rate on the effective capacity of macroporous anion exchange resin. [Lewatit MP-500-FK; Pu/sup +/]

Technical Report · Wed Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1987

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6435657· OSTI ID:6435657

Marsh, S F; Gallegos, T D

The principal aqueous process used to recover and purify plutonium at the Los Alamos Plutonium Facility is anion exchange in nitric acid. Previous studies with gel-type anion exchange resin have shown an inverse relationship between plutonium concentration in the feed solution and the optimum flow rate for this process. Because gel-type resin has been replaced with macroporous resin at Los Alamos, the relationship between plutonium concentration and solution flow rate was reexamined with the selected Lewatit MP-500-FK resin using solutions of plutonium in nitric acid and in nitric acid with high levels of added nitrate salts. Our results with this resin differ significantly from previous data obtained with gel-type resin. Flow-rate variation from 10 to 80 liters per hour had essentially no effect on the measured quantities of plutonium sorbed by the macroporous resin. However, the effect of plutonium concentration in the feed solutions was pronounced, as feed solutions that contained the highest concentrations of plutonium also produced the highest resin loadings. The most notable effect of high concentrations of dissolved nitrate salts in these solutions was an increased resin capacity for plutonium at low flow rates. 16 refs., 7 figs., 2 tabs.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Lab., NM (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-36
• OSTI ID: 6435657
• Report Number(s): LA-10990; ON: DE87010770
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

050700* -- Nuclear Fuels-- Fuels Production & Properties
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
ACTINIDES
ANIONS
CAPACITY
CHARGED PARTICLES
ELEMENTS
FLOW RATE
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INORGANIC ACIDS
ION EXCHANGE MATERIALS
IONS
MATERIALS
METALS
NITRATES
NITRIC ACID
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC POLYMERS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PETROCHEMICALS
PETROLEUM PRODUCTS
PLUTONIUM
POLYMERS
QUANTITY RATIO
RESINS
TRANSURANIUM ELEMENTS