Studies on testing and evaluation of platinum plated titanium electrode for production of uranous nitrate

Partitioning of plutonium from uranium is an important step in the reprocessing of spent fuel by PUREX process of solvent extraction using 30% TBP-dodecane. This is achieved by selectively reducing the Pu in solution to least extractable trivalent state by uranous nitrate as the reductant. The latter is conventionally produced by electrolytic reduction of uranyl ion in presence of hydrazine nitrate as uranous nitrate stabilizer using Pt-coated titanium as the anode. The anode plating wears out after period of operation thus affecting the process efficiency and hence the quality control testing of platinum plated electrode becomes important. This article describes the use of Beta backscattering method with strontium-90 radioisotope as non-destructive testing tool for measuring the coating thickness of the sample Ti electrode. The surface characteristics and coating morphology were also examined by scanning electron microscope and the micrographs are presented.