Column separation of tetravalent cerium fission products from trivalent rare earth radio-isotopes
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Rapid and efficient isolation of individual rare earth element (REE) radioisotopes from complex mixtures is necessary to support the fields of nuclear forensics, medical isotope production and nuclear physics measurements. The separations must be robust and generate sufficiently high purity samples for subsequent radiological analysis. Current methodologies utilize a laborious two step Ce(IV)-iodate precipitation followed by Ce(IV)-nitrate di-(2-ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid/n-heptane extraction. This work reports an alternative method to isolate Ce fission product isotopes equilibrated with milligrams of cold carrier, from the remaining REE’s using a Ce(IV)/LN-resin (Eichrom Technologies) based separation. Optimization of Ce(IV) loading, REE(III) elution volume and subsequent Ce(III) stripping step utilized 166mHo tracer. Mixed fission product experiments provided a further test of this LN-resin method, with analysis of purified 141/144Ce, 147Nd and 91Y. Overall, while decontamination factors were lower for the LN-resin method, (vs. the combined precipitation/extraction) the simplicity of the technique and the satisfactory fission product analysis results point to the efficacy of this method.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); US Air Force Technical Applications Center
- Grant/Contract Number:
- 89233218CNA000001
- OSTI ID:
- 1893677
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-22-20281; TRN: US2310216
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, Vol. 331, Issue 5; ISSN 0236-5731
- Publisher:
- SpringerCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Separation of Lanthanide Isotopes from Mixed Fission Product Samples
SEPARATION OF AMERICIUM AND CURIUM FROM HIGHLY RADIOACTIVE WASTE SOLUTIONS. PART I. LABORATORY BATCH STUDIES.