Recovery of plutonium from nitric acid waste

Technical Report · Sun Dec 21 04:00:00 EST 1986

OSTI ID:6606080

Muscatello, A C; Saba, M T; Navratil, J D

Seven candidate materials, each contained in a static-bed column, have been evaluated for removing plutonium from nitric acid waste. Three materials have insufficient capacity for plutonium: TBP (tri-n-butylphosphate) sorbed on Amberlite XAD-4 resin, O phi D(IB)CMPO (octylphenyl-N, N-diisobutylcarbamoylmethylphosphine oxide) sorbed on XAD-4, and Amberlite IRA-938 anion exchange resin. The remaining four materials reduced 10/sup -3/ g/l plutonium in 7.2M HNO/sub 3/ to low 10/sup -5/ g/l for 80 bed volumes (BV). The 10% breakthrough capacities for 3 x 10/sup -2/ g/l plutonium are: TOPO (tri-n-octylphosphine oxide) on XAD-4 - 1800 BV, DHDECMP (dihexyl-N, N-diethylcarbamoylmethylphosphonate) on XAD-4 - 960 BV, Dowex 1 x 4 - 840 BV, and DHDECMP + TBP - 640 BV. Based on these results and generally poor elution of all materials, TOPO on XAD-4 is recommended as the best candidate for recovery of plutonium followed by acid digestion or combustion of the TOPO to recover the concentrated plutonium.

• Research Organization: Rockwell International Corp., Golden, CO (USA). Rocky Flats Plant
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-76DP03533
• OSTI ID: 6606080
• Report Number(s): RFP-4009; ON: DE87009471
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
400105* -- Separation Procedures
ACTINIDES
BUTYL PHOSPHATES
CHROMATOGRAPHY
DHDECMP
ELEMENTS
ESTERS
EXTRACTION CHROMATOGRAPHY
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INORGANIC ACIDS
METALS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NITRIC ACID
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC PHOSPHORUS COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC POLYMERS
PETROCHEMICALS
PETROLEUM PRODUCTS
PHOSPHONIC ACID ESTERS
PHOSPHORIC ACID ESTERS
PLUTONIUM
POLYMERS
RECOVERY
RESINS
ROCKY FLATS PLANT
SEPARATION PROCESSES
TBP
TOPO
TRANSURANIUM ELEMENTS
US AEC
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS