Extraction of complexes of lanthanides and actinides with Arsenazo III in an ammonium sulfate-poly(ethylene glycol)-water two-phase system

The distribution of lanthanides and actinides in a two-phase liquid system obtained by mixing an aqueous solution of poly(ethylene glycol) and ammonium sulfate has been studied as a function of pH. Conditions are reported which provide the heterogeneity of the system suggested. It is shown that thorium and plutonium can be separated from transplutonium elements and lanthanides. Conditions have been chosen for quantitative group extraction of actinides and lanthanides.     

The EURO-GANEX Process: Current Status of Flowsheet Development and Process Safety Studies

A new hydrometallurgical grouped actinide extraction process has been developed to separate the transuranic actinide ions from dissolved spent fuel solution (after an initial uranium extraction cycle). This “EURO-GANEX” process is aimed towards the homogeneous recycling of plutonium and minor actinides in a future closed fuel cycle. The separation process is based on the co-extraction of actinides and lanthanides from aqueous nitric acid into an organic phase followed by selective co-stripping of actinides. A suitable organic phase has been formulated and distribution ratios determined for lanthanides, actinides and some problematic fission products under extraction and stripping conditions. The process flowsheet has been proven on surrogate feed solutions as well as with spent fast reactor fuel; excellent recoveries of the actinides and good decontamination factors from the lanthanides and other fission products were obtained. A variation on the EURO-GANEX flowsheet (the “TRU-SANEX” process) has now been designed to produce separate Pu+Np and Am+Cm products for heterogeneous recycling. Progress on underpinning process chemistry and safety studies as well as flowsheet tests are summarized.     

Separation des actinides dans une solution renfermant des elements naturels et des produits de fission

A diagram for the separation of actinides is proposed. The task was to separate actinides from a soil sample, contaminated by them and fission products. Separations are performed by extraction chromatography and selective stripping followed by ion-exchange purification on small columns. The obtained actinides are free from foreign elements. It is possible to prepare electrodeposited sources for radiometric measurements, alpha-and gamma-countings or deposits for mass-spectrometric measurements.      

An improved rapid method for the determination of actinides in water

A new rapid method has been developed for the determination of Th, Pu, Np, U, Am and Cm isotopes in water samples of about 1 L. Actinides are pre-concentrated by co-precipitation with Ca phosphate, sequentially separated on stacked TEVA and TK221 cartridges and measured by alpha spectrometry. The TK221 extraction chromatographic resin contains i.e. CMPO and DGA extractants. It has been characterized by measuring the weight distribution ratios (D_w) of actinides which are higher than 1000 for all actinides in 3 M HNO₃. The method has been optimized, applied for the analysis of tap and seawater samples and validated by participating in an IAEA proficiency test. Chemical recoveries for all actinides are better than 50%. The method can be performed within one day.

     

Scaling-up experience of actinides partitioning from intermediate level high salted alkaline waste streams of Purex process using Versatic-10 extractant

Partitioning of minor alpha-emitting actinides, especially U, Pu and Am from medium active alkaline waste is possible from intermediate level liquid wastes (ILLW) produced during spent fuel reprocessing following Purex process. This paper deals with the efficient removal of alpha-activity from ILLW by solvent extraction process. Counter current batch extraction with O/A ratio 2:1 as well as multistage mixer settler has demonstrated that most of the alpha-activity was removed from the alkaline effluents using 20% Versatic-10 (V-10) in dodecane after giving 3 to 4 contacts, thus converting alkaline waste as non-alpha waste. Under the optimum conditions (pH 9.0-9.5 and VA-10), both Pu(IV) and Am(III) are highly extractable whereas U(VI) is relatively poorly extracted. To assess the applicability of this process for regular treatment of the waste, a feasibility study on pilot plant scale using six stage mixer settler was operated to treat the ILLW. The results indicated that almost >99.90% alpha-emitting actinides are removed. Dilute nitric acid (0.5M HNO₃) served as the most efficient strippant for all these actinides. This facilitate an easy regeneration of the extractant which can be recycled. This method is useful in obtaining alpha-free wastes and had positive impact on ease and safety aspects during subsequent waste treatment and long term storage.     

Automated pressurized injection system for the separation of actinides by extraction chromatography

This article describes a novel separation scheme developed for an automated system to efficiently separate actinides in individual fractions. The automated pressurized injection (PI) system developed allows precise collection of high-purity actinide fractions (≥99 %) at elevated flow rates (15–30 mL min^?1) using two extraction chromatographic TEVA and DGA resins. This system is sufficiently robust to enable the use of highly viscous acid media, limit acid corrosion, and tolerate large amount of gases generated by redox reactions by some of the reagents. The PI system was successfully applied to the separation of actinides in individual fractions (recovery yield ≥97 % for Th, U, Np, Pu, and Am) and shows the absence of cross contamination even with highly concentrated actinide solutions. The methodology was also applied to the measurement of actinides in large spiked soil samples.     

Separation of zirconium and hafnium from early actinides and rare earth elements with eichrom’s pb resin in HCl

The separation of zirconium and hafnium isotopes from the early actinides and rare earth elements (REE) with Eichrom’s Pb resin has been studied. Batch studies were performed to characterize the behavior of actinium, thorium, zirconium, hafnium, lutetium, and yttrium on Pb resin from HCl solutions (0.001 M to 11 M). The early actinides and REE had no affinity for the resin at any concentration of HCl, but zirconium and hafnium showed a moderate uptake at high concentrations of HCl with a maximum extraction at 11 M HCl. Several column separations were tested, including with only tracer isotopes and with mass. Rapid, simple separations of zirconium from actinium, thorium, protactinium, and the REE with high yields and low elution volumes are presented with applications for tracer isotope production and fission product separations. The resin is less suitable for hafnium separations as hafnium tends to bleed off the resin even at high concentrations of HCl.

     

New conceptual process for the extraction of actinides based on oxapentane-diamides

Several diamide derivates were synthesized in our laboratory. The extraction of actinides and some fission products by these compounds were studied. N,N,N’,N’-tetra-(2-ethylhexyl)-3-oxa pentanediamide [TEHOPDA) was proven to be a suitable extractant for the removal of actinides from nitric acid solution. The actinides can be stripped from the loaded solvent by the dilute nitric acid. TEHOPDA showed a high loading capacity to actinides and lanthanides with a mixture of n-octanol and kerosene as the diluent. Considering the effective-extraction and easy-stripping of actinides, 0.25 mol/l TEHOPDA — 30% n-octanol + 70% kerosene was selected as the solvent. A cascade extraction experiment was carried out with the simulated dissolver solution of spend fuel as feed. 99.99% U and 99.999% Am, Pu, and Np were extracted in a 4-stage test. Based on the experimental results, a conceptual reprocessing process was proposed.     

Selective extraction of plutonium(IV) over uranium(VI), americium(III), europium(III) and zirconium(IV) with bidentate O-phenoxydiamide ligands: experimental and theoretical study

To rapidly assess the contamination of actinides in emergency water, a method was developed to simultaneously analyze U, Th, Pu and Am. The method consists of two steps: extraction chromatographic separation using UTEVA and DGA resins and isotopic determination of actinides by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS). The whole analytical procedure takes only 8 h and high chemical recoveries of actinides were obtained. The cross spectral interferences between actinides in ICPMS measurement were sufficiently removed. The accuracy was validated by analyzing IAEA-443 seawater sample. The low limits of detection of actinides allow this method to distinguish low level contamination.     

Sequential separation of actinides and lanthanides by extraction chromatography using a CMPO-TBP/XAD7 column

CMPO/TBP sorbed on Amberlite XAD7 resin was used for the separation of actinides and lanthanides from nitric acid solutions by extraction chromatography. The distribution ratios of actinides and lanthanide fission products (Ce, Eu) as a function of acid concentration and some complexing agents were determined. In strong HNO₃ medium (>1 mol/l) the tri-, tetra- and hexavalent actinides as well as the lanthanides have shown great affinity for the CMPO/TBP/XAD7 sorbent. The same behavior was found in HCl medium except for trivalent actinides and lanthanides which show lower distribution values in the same acid range. The effect of some complexing agents as DTPA and ammonium oxalate were also investigated. In DTPA only hexavalent actinides showed higher distribution value. On the basis of these differences, an alternative procedure for actinide-lanthanide separation and actinides from each other is proposed.     

Thermodynamics of dinonylnaphthalene sulfonic acid (HD)

The effect of temperature on the extraction of the trivalent actinides Am³⁺, Cm³⁺ and Cf³⁺ with the liquid cation exchanger dinonylnaphthalenesulphonic acid (HD) in toluene is studied. The different thermodynamic functions of this system are determined from the experimental results. It is found that the free energy variation for the extraction of these metal ions by HD is mainly determined by the entropic terms arising from the hydration-dehydration process of the exchanged ions.     

Latest achievements in the analytical chemistry of actinides

New methods for separation and determination of actinides, widely used in analysis of actinides in technological and environmental samples are reviewed. Special attention is paid to obtaining and stabilizing transplutonium elements. (TPE) in extreme oxidation states. Their use in analytical practice resulted in expanding possibilities of methods for separation and determination of TPE. Solvent extraction, sorption and extraction chromatography are the basic methods for separation of TPE. Solvent extraction, sorption and extraction chromatography are the basic methods for separation of TPE. Methods of separation in gas phase and some other methods such as precipitation and coprecipitation are applied, however, to a lesser degree. Trends of development of these methods including those of various types of membrane extraction that succeeded in separation of TPE in both trivalent and other valence states have been shown. Attention is paid mainly to consideration of modern methods for determination of actinides, special distinction of such methods being low limits of determination, high precision and selectivity. Alpha- and beta-spectrometric methods with semiconductor detectors are the most advanced among various methods based on registration of nuclear radiation. Tremendous success has been achieved in development of emission-spectrometric methods for determination of trace amounts of actinides and various impure elements occurring in samples of actinides. Sensitive mass-spectrometric methods are widely used for determination of both isotope composition and content of elements in various samples including those which are highly radioactive. More simple and precise titrimetric methods based on using oxidizing-reducing or complexing agents are developed successfully. A large number of coulometric methods for determination of americium and berkelium, characterizing high precision and selectivity as well as luminescence methods have been developed.     

Synergistic extraction of tetravalent actinides by mixtures of a β-diketone and a sulfoxide

Synergistic extraction of tetravalent actinides, using mixtures of a β-diketone and several neutral organophosphorous extractants, was recently demonstrated. In this work the extraction of the ions Th(IV), Np(IV) and Pu(IV), from perchloric acid medium, by benzene solutions of a β-diketone, thenoyltrifluoroacetone (HTTA), in combination with a neutral organosulfoxide donor, di-n-octyl sulfoxide (DOSO), has been investigated. Two methods viz. the slope analysis method and JOB's method have been employed for the study. The species mainly responsible for the observed synergism, with the M(IV) ions studied, was found to be M(TTA)₄·DOSO. The extraction and adduct formation equilibrium constants are given.     

Extraction of actinides from simulated HLLW by DHDECMP-TBP/OK

The partitioning of actinides from simulated high level liquid waste (HLLW) originated from the Purex process has been studied using a mixture of dihexyl N,N-diethylcarbamoylmethyl-phosphonate (DHDECMP) and tributylphosphonate (TBP) in kerosene (OK). The distribution ratios of actinides were investigated as a function of a number of parameters such as the concentration of nitric acid, salting-out reagent, Gd(III) in the aqueous phase, extractant in the organic phase, and temperature. The extraction complexes, extraction reaction constant k, and thermodynamic parameters H, G and S were determined. The extraction of actinides from simulated HLLW by DHDECMP-TBP/OK has been carried out using a miniature countercurrent centrifugal contactor. The results show that the removal efficiency of actinides is greater than 99.9%. A conceptual flowsheet for the removal of actinides from HLLW is proposed.This revised version was published online in November 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Solvent extraction of Np(IV) and Pu(IV) with mixtures of TOPO and HTTA

Solutions of HTTA are known to extract tetravalent actinides as M(TTA)₄ species. When TOPO is added to HTTA solutions, the extracting of Np(IV) and Pu(IV) from aqueous perchloric acid was enhanced enormously. The species responsible for the enhanced extraction were identified from the extraction data by the slope ratio method and JOB's method. It was found that the predominant species responsible for enhancement in the extraction, when [HTTA]≫[TOPO], was M(TTA)₄. TOPO for both Np(IV) and Pu(IV). Furthermore, it was established that depending on the relative concentrations of HTTA and TOPO, a number of species with the composition M(TTA)_a(ClO₄)_4-a·b TOPO, with a ranging from 1 to 4 and b having values of 1 or 2, are involved in the extraction. Several equilibrium constant values are given. Fuel Reprocessing Division.     

Extraction of actinides with heterocyclic dicarboxamides

Extraction of actinides from aqueous nitric acid by three different heterocyclic dicarboxamides (2,6-pyridinedicarboxamide, 2,2′-bipyridine-6,6′-dicarboxamide and 1,10-phenanthroline-2,9-dicarboxamides) was studied. It was shown that all studied ligands extract actinides at different oxidation states (U(VI), Np(V), Pu(IV), Am(III), Cm(III)) from acidic solutions. All studied diamides extract Am(III) better than Cm(III). Et(pHexPh)ClPhen contains electron-withdrawing chlorine atoms at the positions 4 and 7 of the phenanthroline moiety (SF_Am/Cm = 4–6) and possesses the highest separation factor Am(III)/Cm(III). The studied ligands possess high extraction ability to all actinides present in HLW and therefore they could be used for simultaneous extraction of actinides in the GANEX-type process.     

Various flowsheets of actinides recovery with diamides of heterocyclic dicarboxylic acids

Solvents on the base of diamides of heterocyclic dicarboxylic acids are promising alternatives for studied Grouped ActiNide EXtraction (GANEX) solvents. Advantage of these ligands is the possibility of simultaneous extraction not only of residual uranium and plutonium, but also minor actinides—neptunium, americium and curium. Two flowsheets on the base of diamides of heterocyclic dicarboxylic acids for separation of actinides form acidic solutions were developed, tested in laboratory scale and compared. Both flowsheets allow separation of more than 99.95% of actinides from raffinates with high content of lanthanides.     

Application of synergistic MEHPA-DEHPA mixed solvent to the extraction of lanthanides(III)

The distribution ratio of neodymium(III) in extraction with mono(2-ethylhexyl)-phosphoric acid was determined as a function of extractant and Nd(III) concentrations, and effect of co-existing DEHPA was studied. A characteristic extraction of a tracer quantity of Nd(III) was found at an extractant concentration of approximately 0.01 M. Di(2-ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid depresses the extraction of Nd(III) in MEHPA of a concentration of 0.01M, but enhances it at higher concentrations of MEHPA. Owing to the high Df values against lanthanides(III) and an excellent radiation stability, the synergistic combination of MEHPA-DEHPA, preferably at a DEHPA/MEHPA mole ratio of 3, was concluded to be applicable to the isolation of lanthanides (and actinides) from highly acidic solutions.     

Extraction and coordination behavior of diphenyl hydrogen phosphine oxide towards actinides

Extraction behavior of some selected actinides like U(VI), Th(IV), and Am(III) was investigated with three different H-phosphine oxides, viz. diphenyl hydrogen phosphine oxide (DPhPO), dihexyl hydrogen phosphine oxide (DHePO) and diphenyl phosphite (DPP). The H-phosphine oxides exhibited a dual nature towards the extraction of actinides where the ligand not only extracts the metals by cation exchange but also by coordination with the phosphoryl group at lower and higher acidic concentrations, respectively. Among all ligands employed, DPhPO showed highest extraction with actinides with a substituent dependent trend as follows: DPhPO > DHePO > DPP. This trend emphasizes the importance of substituents around the phosphine oxide towards their extraction of actinides. The coordination behavior of DPhPO was studied by investigating its corresponding complexes with Th(NO₃)₄ and UO₂(NO₃)₂. The metal complexes of these actinides were characterized using FT-IR, ¹H and ³¹P NMR spectroscopic techniques. Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations were also performed to understand the electronic and geometric structure of the ligand and the corresponding metal complexes.     

Characterization of high level waste for minor actinides by chemical separation and alpha spectrometry

The high level waste (HLW) generated from the reprocessing of the spent fuel of pressurized heavy water reactor has been characterized for the minor actinides. The radiation dose of the waste solution was reduced by radiochemical separation of cesium from HLW by solvent extraction with chlorinated cobalt dicarbollide dissolved in 20% nitrobenzene in xylene. Minor actinides (Np, Pu, Am, Cm) in the high level waste were assayed by alpha spectrometry following radiochemical separation. The gross alpha activity determined by liquid scintillation agrees well (within 10%) with the cumulative quantities of actinides determined by alpha spectrometry.