Summary
Ion exchange is the major method used at Los Alamos to recover and purify plutonium from a variety of different contaminants. During this process, a high-acid (5–7M), low-activity stream is produced that presently is concentrated by evaporation, then cemented for long-term disposal. Our goal is to remove and concentrate the radioactive elements so that the remainder can be treated as “low-level” or regular industrial waste. Solvent extraction with neutral bifunctional extractants, such as DHDECMP and CMPO, has been chosen as the process to be developed. Experimental work has shown that both extractants effectively remove actinides to below the required limits, but that CMPO was much more difficult to strip. In addition, studies of plutonium and americium removal using a wide variety of ion exchangers and supported extractants including DHDECMP, CMPO, and TOPO will be reviewed.
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© 1991 ECSC, EEC, EAEC, Brussels and Luxembourg
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Muscatello, A.C., Yarbro, S.L., Marsh, S.F. (1991). Comparison between CMPO and DHDECMP for Alpha Decontamination of Radioactive Liquid Waste. 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_16
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-3654-9_16
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