Extraction of Plutonium From Spiked INEEL Soil Samples Using the Ligand-Assisted Supercritical Fluid Extraction (LA-SFE) Technique
- Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory
- INEEL
- British Nuclear Fuels, Inc.
In order to investigate the effectiveness of ligand-assisted supercritical fluid extraction for the removal of transuranic contaminations from soils an Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) silty-clay soil sample was obtained from near the Radioactive Waste Management Complex area and subjected to three different chemical preparations before being spiked with plutonium. The spiked INEEL soil samples were subjected to a sequential aqueous extraction procedure to determine radionuclide portioning in each sample. Results from those extractions demonstrate that plutonium consistently partitioned into the residual fraction across all three INEEL soil preparations whereas americium partitioned 73% into the iron/manganese fraction for soil preparation A, with the balance partitioning into the residual fraction. Plutonium and americium were extracted from the INEEL soil samples using a ligand-assisted supercritical fluid extraction technique. Initial supercritical fluid extraction runs produced plutonium extraction technique. Initial supercritical fluid extraction runs produced plutonium extraction efficiencies ranging from 14% to 19%. After a second round wherein the initial extraction parameters were changed, the plutonium extraction efficiencies increased to 60% and as high as 80% with the americium level in the post-extracted soil samples dropping near to the detection limits. The third round of experiments are currently underway. These results demonstrate that the ligand-assisted supercritical fluid extraction technique can effectively extract plutonium from the spiked INEEL soil preparations.
- Research Organization:
- Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Environmental Management (EM) (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC07-94ID13223
- OSTI ID:
- 769006
- Report Number(s):
- INEEL/EXT-99-00870
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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