Summary
Hydrated Antimony Pentoxide (HAP), or polyantimonic acid, has been frequently studied for application in nuclear technology, such as waste treatment and recovery of Cs-Sr. In the present paper, HAP has been studied for reprocessing of the liquid fuel solution of a homogeneous research reactor. The removal of the uranyl solution (19.94% enriched) used as fuel in the L54 homogeneous nuclear reactor (Atomics International USA) of the Polytechnic University of Milan, which was used for teaching and research during 1960–1979, is imposed by safety reasons in view of the final dismantling of the reactor structures. Several possibilities were formerly explored such as direct solidification of the fuel solution in concrete blocks, extraction of the fuel values by organic solvents, etc. The solution finally chosen for in-depth study was the use of Inorganic ion exchangers which appeared suited to remove Pu and fission products with a good recovery of uranium. The process proposed is based on hydrated antimony pentoxide (HAP, Carlo Erba, Milan). Uranium is recovered as ammonium uranate with 90 – 95% yield. The decontamination factor for Pu and fission products is higher than 103. The operations can be carried out in laboratory-scale radiochemical hot cells. A scheme of the process for this specific application is indicated. Break-through curves and absorption kinetics for several fission products are reported, together with operative conditions for precipitation of ammonium uranate.
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© 1991 ECSC, EEC, EAEC, Brussels and Luxembourg
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Facchini, A., Corti, S., Iannelli, G., Girardi, F., Nannicini, R. (1991). Use of Hydrated Antimony Pentoxide (HAP) for Fission Product Removal from Irradiated U Solutions: Application to a Homogeneous Reactor Fuel Reprocessing. In: Cecille, M.L., Casarci, M., Pietrelli, L. (eds) New Separation Chemistry Techniques for Radioactive Waste and Other Specific Applications. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-3654-9_32
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-3654-9_32
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