Abstract
Selective separation of an individual actinide of interest from other actinides and accompanying lanthanides is a challenging task in radiochemistry and radioanalytical chemistry. This paper illustrates a dual column technique (i.e., stacked columns of two appropriate resins) to separate an individual actinide of interest, where the selection of two resins and a common effluent running through the stacked columns are key parameters in design of an appropriate dual column. This paper describes the dual column design and practice with two examples, one for a heavy actinide 249Bk and the other for a light actinide 230U. In the former case, stacked columns of anion exchange (AX) resin and LN resin replaced the traditional CX-AHIB method used at Oak Ridge National Laboratory for 60 years. In the latter case, an elution process with an AX column followed with a stacked column of AX resin and a DGA resin was applied, instead of traditional methods, e.g., PUREX or U-TEVA methods. Application results of the dual column method to the two example actinides are displayed, while the considerations in method design and the required conditions are discussed.
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Acknowledgements
This research is supported by the US Department of Energy Isotope Program, which is managed by the Office of Science for Isotope R&D and Production. We acknowledge Los Alamos National Laboratory and the University of Washington for the 232Th foil preparation and the proton irradiation of the target for production of 230Pa and 230U. Also, we acknowledge ORNL HFIR for their continued support to Cf-252 program.
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Office of Isotope R and D and Production, Heavy Actinides Program, Miting Du
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Du, M. Applications of a dual-column technique in actinide separations. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 331, 5343–5357 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-022-08501-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-022-08501-z