Americium/Lanthanide Separations in Alkaline Solutions for Advanced Nuclear Fuel Cycles
- Los Alamos National Laboratory
Project goals: Can used nuclear fuel be partitioned by dissolution in alkaline aqueous solution to give a solution of uranium, neptunium, plutonium, americium and curium and a filterable solid containing nearly all of the lanthanide fission products and certain other fission products? What is the chemistry of Am/Cm/Ln in oxidative carbonate solutions? Can higher oxidation states of Am be stabilized and exploited? Conclusions: Am(VI) is kinetically stable in 0.5-2.0 M carbonate solutions for hours. Aliquat 336 in toluene has been successfully shown to extract U(VI) and Pu(VI) from carbonate solutions. (Stepanov et al 2011). Higher carbonate concentration gives lower D, SF{sub U/Eu} for = 4 in 1 M K{sub 2}CO{sub 3}. Experiments with Am(VI) were unsuccessful due to reduction by the organics. Multiple sources of reducing organics...more optimization. Reduction experiments of Am(VI) in dodecane/octanol/Aliquat 336 show that after 5 minutes of contact, only 30-40% of the Am(VI) has been reduced. Long enough to perform an extraction. Shorter contact times, lower T, and lower Aliquat 336 concentration still did not result in any significant extraction of Am. Anion exchange experiments using a strong base anion exchanger show uptake of U(VI) with minimal uptake of Nd(III). Experiments with Am(VI) indicate Am sorption with a Kd of 9 (10 minute contact) but sorption mechanism is not yet understood. SF{sub U/Nd} for = 7 and SF{sub U/Eu} for = 19 after 24 hours in 1 M K{sub 2}CO{sub 3}.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- DOE/LANL
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC52-06NA25396
- OSTI ID:
- 1043482
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-12-21528; TRN: US1203243
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 36th Actinide Separations Conference ; 2012-05-22 - 2012-05-22 ; Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
ACTINIDES
AMERICIUM
ANIONS
AQUEOUS SOLUTIONS
CARBONATES
CHEMISTRY
CURIUM
DISSOLUTION
EXTRACTION
FISSION PRODUCTS
MEETINGS
NEPTUNIUM
NUCLEAR FUELS
OPTIMIZATION
PLUTONIUM
RARE EARTHS
REDUCTION
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SOLIDS
SOLUTIONS
SORPTION
TOLUENE
UPTAKE
URANIUM
VALENCE