Systematic radiochemical analysis of fission products

A scheme for the sequential separation of fission products has been developed on the basis of ion-exchange techniques. It consists of a main cation-exchange process for group separation and subsidiary processes of cation or anion exchange for further separations or purifications of the individual fission products. By the present method, Zn, Rb, Sr, Y, (Zr), Mo, Pd, Cd, Te, Cs, Ba, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Pm, Sm, Eu and Tb can be separated simultaneously from an irradiated uranium sample. Of these, alkali, alkaline earth and rare earth metal ions are separated quantitatively. A polarographic method was applied to determine the recoveries of Zn, Mo, Pd, Cd and Te, which were not separated quantitatively.