Method for Online Process Monitoring for Use in Solvent Extraction and Actinide Separations

摘要

UV-Visible spectroscopy can be utilized in an on-line fashion to directly measure the concentration and speciation of special nuclear materials, such as uranium and plutonium, thus allowing real-time process control and tracking for the solvent extraction processes. Attributing UV-Visible data to process conditions is complex due to uranyl nitrate speciation, thus efforts focus on characterizing the system encompassing 0.01-1.26Â M U and 0.01-8Â M HNO₃. Results suggest dominant speciation changes from low (0.01Â M) to high (>6Â M) HNO₃, and peak shifts in the high (>1Â M) uranyl system imply an ingrowth of species not present at lower uranyl concentrations.