RECOVERY OF PLUTONIUM AND OTHER TRANSURANIUM ELEMENTS FROM IRRADIATED PLUTONIUM-ALUMINUM ALLOY BY ION EXCHANGE METHODS

摘要

In order to isolate plutonium and other transuranium elements such as americium and curium from the aluminum in highly irradiated Pu-Al alloy fuel elements, an ion exchange process was demonstrated. The araericium and curium will be used in the nuclear studies related to the very heavy elements. The report describes the process in detail and gives result from the developmental work and the pilot plant demonstration. The process consisted in dissolving the fuel rods in 6 M HNO3 -- 0.05 M Hg2+n0.03 M F, adjusting the valence of the plutonium to four and clarifying the solution by filtration through a sand-bed filter precoated with filter aid, after which the plutonium was recovered by sorption on anion exchange resin, the sorbed plutonium then being scrubbed free of aluminum and fission products with 7 M HNO3 — 0.01 M F. The partly purified plutoni um was then eluted from the resin with Of' M HNO 3 .