Separation of neptunium, plutonium and uranium by using butyraldehydes as reductants in reprocessing

摘要

A new separation process of Np, Pu and U using n- and iso-butyraldehydes as reductants for Np(VI) and Pu(IV), respectively, in the reprocessing has been investigated. In the kinetics study of Np, Pu and U reduction, it was found that n-butyraldehyde reduced Np(VI) to Np(V) in the Purex solution but did not reduce Pu(IV) and U(VI), and iso-butyraldehyde reduced Np(VI) and Pu(IV) but did not reduce U(VI). Based on these results, a new selective separation process of Np, Pu and U was proposed. The main process consists of three steps: co-decontamination, Np separation and U/Pu partition steps. In the Np separation step, Np(VI) extracted together with Pu(IV) and U(VI) by the solvent of 30 % tri-n-bytyl phosphate/n-dodecane was selectively reduced to Np(V) by using n-butyraldehyde and was back-extracted from the solvent. In the U/Pu partition step, iso-butyraldehyde was used as a reductant for Pu(IV). The effectiveness of the new process was demonstrated in the flow sheet study using miniature mixer-settlers. In the Np separation step, 99.98 % of Np extracted together with U(VI) in the co-decontamination step was reduced by n-butyraldehyde and separated from U. In the U/Pu partition step, more than 99 % of Pu was reduced by iso-butyraldehyde and separated from U. (author). (ERA citation 19:008207)