Actinide purification

Recovery of actinides at the RFP with an organic phosphorous bidentate extractant has been proposed. A conceptual production flow sheet is shown in Figure 3. The bidentate reagent, dihexyl-N, N-diethylcarbamoylmethylenephosphonate (DHDECMP), is especially attractive since it can recover actinides from MSE residues containing aluminum. The cation exchange process is unable to effect actinide purification when aluminum is present. (DHDECMP extracts actinides and lanthanides, but does not extract common RFP contaminants, e.g., aluminum. No lanthanides are used in process streams at RFP.)... 

The unique properties of actinides have revolutionized the modem world with regard to the nuclear energy production. Isolation of the transuranic actinides from a matrix, including fission products and uranium, requires an efficient separation for actinide purification. 

One of the first bed materials was based on the extractant diamyl amylphosphonate (DAAP marketed under the name U-TEVA-Spec ) and was designed for purification of the tetravalent actinides (U (IV), Th (IV), Pu (IV)) and hexavalent uranium (U(VI)). This material is characterized by high (>10-100) distribution coefficients for U and Th in significant (>3 M) concentrations of both nitric and hydrochloric acids, and so is useful for both U and Th purification (Horwitz et al. 1992 Goldstein et al. 1997 Eikenberg et al. 2001a). 

Thirdly, some obvious applications of coordination chemistry are omitted from this volume if they are better treated elsewhere. This is the case when a specific application is heavily associated with one particular element or group of elements, to the extent that the application is more appropriately discussed in the section on that element. Essentially all of the coordination chemistry of technetium, for example, relates to its use in radioimmunoimaging inclusion of this in Chapter 20 of this volume would have left the chapter on technetium in Volume 5 almost empty. For the same reason, the applications of actinide coordination complexes to purification, recovery,... 

In the year 2000, 15% of the world s electric power was produced by 433 nuclear power reactors 169 located in Europe, 120 in the United States, and 90 in the Far East. These reactors consumed 6,400 tons of fresh enriched uranium that was obtained through the production of 35,000 tons of pure natural uranium in 23 different nations the main purification step was solvent extraction. In the reactors, the nuclear transmutation process yielded fission products and actinides (about 1000 tons of Pu) equivalent to the amount of uranium consumed, and heat that powered steam-driven turbines to produce 2,400 TWh of electricity in 2000. 

This article presents a general discussion of actinide metallurgy, including advanced methods such as levitation melting and chemical vapor-phase reactions. A section on purification of actinide metals by a variety of techniques is included. Finally, an element-by-element discussion is given of the most satisfactory metallurgical preparation for each individual element actinium (included for completeness even though not an actinide element), thorium, protactinium, uranium, neptunium, plutonium, americium, curium, berkelium, californium, and einsteinium. 

If an actinide metal is available in sufficient quantity to form a rod or an electrode, very efficient methods of purification are applicable electrorefining, zone melting, and electrotransport. Thorium, uranium, neptunium, and plutonium metals have been refined by electrolysis in molten salts (84). An electrode of impure metal is dissolved anodically in a molten salt bath (e.g., in LiCl/KCl eutectic) the metal is deposited electrochemically on the cathode as a solid or a liquid (19, 24). To date, the purest Np and Pu metals have been produced by this technique. 

Pulse ultrasonic relaxation method, 32 18 Pump-and-probe techniques, 46 137 Purification, of actinide metals, see Actinide, metals, purification XjPj Purified protein, 36 94 Purple acid phosphatases, 40 371, 376, 43 362, 395-398, 44 243-245 biological function, 43 395 homology, 43 397... 

Reductive nitrosylation, transition metal nitrosyl complexes, 34 296-297 ReFejSj cluster, 38 41-43 self-assembly system, 38 41-42 Refining, of actinide metals, see Actinide, metals, purification Refractory compounds heat treatment of solids, 17 105-110 crystal growth, 17 105, 106 decomposition, 17 107,-110 spheroidization, 17 106, 107 preparation of, using radio-frequency plasma, 17 99-102... 

Considerable progress has been possible in the determination of chemical and physical properties of actinide solids as a result of improved preparation and purification methods. 

In this chapter, preparation and purification methods are reviewed. In view of the expected role of 5 f electrons in the metallic bond of actinides, methods for the preparation of metals have been particularly studied. There has also been important progress in the preparation of simple binary compounds. Special emphasis has been given to the growth of single crystals, particularly needed for the most refined physical techniques. 

The preparation of larger quantities of high purity actinide metals is being based increasingly on separation or purification via evaporation of the actinide metal In these methods, actinide compounds (oxides or carbides) are reduced by metals forming nonvolatile oxides or carbides under conditions where the actinide metals can be volatilized ... 

Efficient purification is achieved by selective evaporation and condensation. This technique is applicable to actinides of medium volatility i.e. Am or Cm The volatile impurities are eUminated by selective condensation of the actinide metal, less volatile impurities are left in the crucible. The efficiency of this refining method is determined by the relative evaporation ratio, which for two elements A and B equals the ratio of their activities at a given temperature. 

The research programme of the European Institute for Transuranium Elements was, from its very beginning, devoted to both basic research on advanced plutonium containing fuel and to fundamental research on actinide elements. Non-fuel actinide research in Europe started more than 20 years ago with the reprocessing of irradiated actinide samples. Since the first isolation and purification of transplutonium elements, actinide research developed steadily in close contact and cooperation with specialised laboratories in Western Europe and in the United States. 

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