Actinide Oxide Dissolution in Tributyl Phosphate
An alternative to dissolving used nuclear fuel (UNF) in an acidic solution during reprocessing is direct dissolution in an organic solution, which would eliminate an aqueous dissolution step, decrease the amount of nitrate needed, and reduce the facility size. The flowsheet for this potentially less...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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EDP Sciences
2025-01-01
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| Series: | EPJ Web of Conferences |
| Online Access: | https://www.epj-conferences.org/articles/epjconf/pdf/2025/02/epjconf_atalante2025_01003.pdf |
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| author | Gogolski Jarrod Goetzman Chelsea Mills Matthew Nguyen Vinh Rudisill Tracy Lascola Robert |
| author_facet | Gogolski Jarrod Goetzman Chelsea Mills Matthew Nguyen Vinh Rudisill Tracy Lascola Robert |
| author_sort | Gogolski Jarrod |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | An alternative to dissolving used nuclear fuel (UNF) in an acidic solution during reprocessing is direct dissolution in an organic solution, which would eliminate an aqueous dissolution step, decrease the amount of nitrate needed, and reduce the facility size. The flowsheet for this potentially less expensive alternative is first to voloxidize the UNF to remove fission product gases and form an oxide. After voloxidation, the UNF is then dissolved in an organic solution containing an extractant mixed with an aliphatic diluent and pre-equilibrated with nitric acid. The organic solution then goes through a solvent extraction process to recover the uranium and/or other desired radionuclides. This work qualitatively studied the dissolution of actinide oxides (UO2, NpO2, and PuO2) in tributyl phosphate using UV-Vis-NIR absorbance spectroscopy to ascertain dissolution behavior. Initial studies included material that is otherwise difficult to dissolve in only nitric acid, specifically CeO2, that is sometimes used as a dissolution surrogate for PuO2. This work confirmed that CeO2, NpO2, and PuO2 are difficult to dissolve in 30 vol% TBP-dodecane pre-equilibrated with 10 M HNO3 and will readily dissolve when co-precipitated with U (i.e., the mixed oxides U-Ce, U-Np, and U-Pu), surrogates for voloxidized nuclear fuel. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-715090dae3ed4381823fe0042fc3f325 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2100-014X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | EDP Sciences |
| record_format | Article |
| series | EPJ Web of Conferences |
| spelling | doaj-art-715090dae3ed4381823fe0042fc3f3252025-02-05T10:53:04ZengEDP SciencesEPJ Web of Conferences2100-014X2025-01-013170100310.1051/epjconf/202531701003epjconf_atalante2025_01003Actinide Oxide Dissolution in Tributyl PhosphateGogolski Jarrod0Goetzman Chelsea1Mills Matthew2Nguyen Vinh3Rudisill Tracy4Lascola Robert5Savannah River National LaboratorySavannah River National LaboratorySavannah River National LaboratorySavannah River National LaboratorySavannah River National LaboratorySavannah River National LaboratoryAn alternative to dissolving used nuclear fuel (UNF) in an acidic solution during reprocessing is direct dissolution in an organic solution, which would eliminate an aqueous dissolution step, decrease the amount of nitrate needed, and reduce the facility size. The flowsheet for this potentially less expensive alternative is first to voloxidize the UNF to remove fission product gases and form an oxide. After voloxidation, the UNF is then dissolved in an organic solution containing an extractant mixed with an aliphatic diluent and pre-equilibrated with nitric acid. The organic solution then goes through a solvent extraction process to recover the uranium and/or other desired radionuclides. This work qualitatively studied the dissolution of actinide oxides (UO2, NpO2, and PuO2) in tributyl phosphate using UV-Vis-NIR absorbance spectroscopy to ascertain dissolution behavior. Initial studies included material that is otherwise difficult to dissolve in only nitric acid, specifically CeO2, that is sometimes used as a dissolution surrogate for PuO2. This work confirmed that CeO2, NpO2, and PuO2 are difficult to dissolve in 30 vol% TBP-dodecane pre-equilibrated with 10 M HNO3 and will readily dissolve when co-precipitated with U (i.e., the mixed oxides U-Ce, U-Np, and U-Pu), surrogates for voloxidized nuclear fuel.https://www.epj-conferences.org/articles/epjconf/pdf/2025/02/epjconf_atalante2025_01003.pdf |
| spellingShingle | Gogolski Jarrod Goetzman Chelsea Mills Matthew Nguyen Vinh Rudisill Tracy Lascola Robert Actinide Oxide Dissolution in Tributyl Phosphate EPJ Web of Conferences |
| title | Actinide Oxide Dissolution in Tributyl Phosphate |
| title_full | Actinide Oxide Dissolution in Tributyl Phosphate |
| title_fullStr | Actinide Oxide Dissolution in Tributyl Phosphate |
| title_full_unstemmed | Actinide Oxide Dissolution in Tributyl Phosphate |
| title_short | Actinide Oxide Dissolution in Tributyl Phosphate |
| title_sort | actinide oxide dissolution in tributyl phosphate |
| url | https://www.epj-conferences.org/articles/epjconf/pdf/2025/02/epjconf_atalante2025_01003.pdf |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT gogolskijarrod actinideoxidedissolutionintributylphosphate AT goetzmanchelsea actinideoxidedissolutionintributylphosphate AT millsmatthew actinideoxidedissolutionintributylphosphate AT nguyenvinh actinideoxidedissolutionintributylphosphate AT rudisilltracy actinideoxidedissolutionintributylphosphate AT lascolarobert actinideoxidedissolutionintributylphosphate |