• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제55권2호
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• pp.391-407
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• 2023

This article provides a survey of wet (aqueous) methods for recovery, separation, and purification of uranium from fission products in carbonate solutions during the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel and methods for removal of radionuclides from alkaline radioactive waste. The main methods such as selective direct precipitation, ion exchange, and solvent extraction are considered. These methods were compared and evaluated for reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel in carbonate media according to novel alternative non-acidic methods and for treatment processes of alkaline radioactive waste.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• 제17권9호
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• pp.814-819
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• 1996

In search of simple host molecules for uranyl ion which form 1: 1-type complexes with high formation constants that can be used either in extraction of uranium from seawater or in catalysis of biologically important organic reactions, the uranophile activities of dihydroxyazobenzene derivative 1 were studied. Uranyl ion and 1 form a 1: 1-type complex with a very large formation constant. The formation constant was measured at pH 7-11.6 by competition experiments with carbonate ion. From the resulting pH dependence, ionization constants of the two aquo ligands coordinated to the uranium of the uranyl complex of 1 were calculated. The ionization constants were also measured by potentiometric titration of the uranyl complex of 1. Based on these results, the pKa values of the two aquo ligands were estimated as 7.1 and 11.0, respectively. At pH 7.5-9.5, therefore, the complex exists mostly as monohydroxo species. Under the conditions of seawater, 1 possesses greater affinity toward uranyl ion compared with other uranophiles such as carbonate ion, calixarene derivatives, or a macrocyclic octacarboxylate. In addition, complexation of 1 with uranyl ion is much faster than that of the calixarene or octacarboxylate uranophiles.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제41권8호
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• pp.1101-1108
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• 2009

The ocean contains around eighty elements of the periodic table and uranium is also one among them, with a uniform concentration of 3.3 ppb and a relative abundance factor of 23. With a large coastline, India has a large stake in exploiting the 4 billion tonnes of uranium locked in seawater. The development of radiation grafting techniques, which are useful in incorporating the required functional groups, has led to more efficient adsorbent preparations in various geometrical configurations. Separation based on a polymeric adsorbent is becoming an increasingly popular technique for the extraction of trace heavy metals from seawater. Radiation grafting has provided definite advantages over chemical grafting. Studies related to thermally bonded non woven porous polypropylene fiber sheet substrate characterization and parameters to incorporate specific groups such as acrylonitrile (AN) into polymer back bones have been investigated. The grafted polyacrylonitrile chains were chemically modified to convert acrylonitrile group into an amidoxime group, a chelating group responsible for heavy metal uptake from seawater/brine. The present work has been undertaken to concentrate heavy metal ions from lean solutions from constant potential sources only. A scheme was designed and developed for investigation of the recovery of heavy metal ions such as uranium and vanadium from seawater.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제51권7호
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• pp.1799-1804
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• 2019

The concept of a new method, the CARBEX (CARBonate EXtraction) process, was proposed for reprocessing of spent uranium oxide fuel. The proposed process is based on use of water solutions of $Na_2CO_3$ or $(NH_4)_2CO_3$ and solvent extraction (SE) by the quaternary ammonium compounds for selective recovery and purification of U from the fission products (FPs). Applying of SE allows to reach high degree of purification of U from FPs. Carrying out the processes in poorly aggressive alkaline carbonate media leads to increasing safety of SNF's reprocessing and better selectivity of separation of lanthanides and actinides. Moreover carbonate reprocessing media allows to carry out a recycling and regeneration of reagents. We have been done laboratory scale experiments on the extraction components of simulated voloxidated spent fuel in the solutions of NaOH or $Na_2CO_3-H_2O_2$ and recovery of U from carbonate solutions by SE method using carbonate of methyltrioctylammonium in toluene. It was shown that the purification factors of U from impurities of simulated FPs reached values $10^3-10^5$. The received results support our opinion that CARBEX after the further development can become more safe, simple and profitable method of spent fuel reprocessing.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제51권2호
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• pp.631-640
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• 2019

Thorium ($^{232}Th$) is four times more abundant than uranium in nature and has become a new important source of energy in the future. This is due to the ability of thorium to undergo the bombardment of neutron to produce uranium-233 ($^{233}U$). The aim of this study is to investigate the production cost of thorium oxide ($ThO_2$) resulted from the thorium extraction process. Four main parameters were studied which include raw material and chemical cost, total capital investment, direct cost and indirect cost. These parameters were justified to obtain the final production cost for the thorium extraction process. The result showed that the raw material costs were $63,126.00 - $104,120.77 (0.5 ton), $126,252.00 - $178,241.53 (1.0 ton), and $1,262,520.00 - $1,782,415.33 (10.0 tons). The total installed equipment and total cost investment were estimated to be approximately $11,542,984.10 and $13,274,431.715 respectively. Hence, the total costs for producing 1 kg $ThO_2$ were $6829.79 - $6911.78, $3540.95 - $3592.94, and $501.18 - $553.17 for 0.5, 1.0, and 10.0 tons respectively. The result concluded that with higher mass production, the cost of 1 kg $ThO_2$ would be reduced which in this scenario, the lowest production cost was $$501.18kg^{-1}$-$$553.17kg^{-1}$ for 10.0 tons of $ThO_2$ production.

• 한국지하수토양환경학회지:지하수토양환경
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• 제23권6호
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• pp.73-81
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• 2018

Inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), one of the most commonly used instruments for metal analysis, was used to determine total uranium in soil. The method was named as "Modified ASTM C1345-96". When comparing with ASTM C1345-96, digestion time (2~3 days) was shorten to 7 hours and the treatment in furnace was eliminated. In analyses of 26 field soil samples, there was a significant difference in the average concentration of total uranium between modified ASTM C1345-96 and ASTM C1345-96 (F : 6.22 > Fc : 4.03, significance level : 0.05, n=26). The average concentration of modified ASTM C1345-96 was 1.8 times larger than that of ASTM C1345-96. In addition, modified ASTM C1345-96 was compared with other acid digestion methods for soil including ISO 11466, Modified ISO 11466, US EPA-3051, US EPA-3051A and US EPA-3052 using a certificated reference material (SRM 2711a, NIST) and field soil samples with different level of organic matter content (1.6%, 5.8%, 10.6%). Modified ASTM C1345-96 showed the best accuracy of 93.01% for SRM 2711a. Also, modified ASTM C1345-96 showed the higher extraction rates than other digestion methods by 11~45%.

• 자원환경지질
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• 제57권4호
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• pp.371-386
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• 2024

This paper presents analytical insights regarding into the occurrence of gold within organic matter, which is hosted by solid bitumen and closely associated with uranium ores in the Late Permian Kővágószőllős Sandstone Formation in Western Mecsek, South-West Hungary. The study utilizes a range of analytical techniques, including X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) and wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence (WD-XRF) for comprehensive mineralogical and elemental analysis; organic petrography and electron microprobe analysis for characterizing organic matter; and an organic elemental analyzer for identifying organic compounds. A three-step sequential extraction method was used to liberate gold from organic matter and sulfide minerals, employing KOH, HCl, and aqua regia, followed by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) to quantify gold contents. The organic matter is identified as comprising two vitrinite types (telinite V1 and reworked V2) and three solid bitumen forms: nonfluorescing (B1) and fluorescing (B2) fillings within the V1, as well as homogenous pyrobitumen (PB) occupying narrow cracks and voids within globular quartz. Despite the samples exhibiting low total organic carbon content (<1 wt%), they display high sulfur content (up to 6 wt%) and the sequentially extracted noble metal content from the organic matter is found to total 7.45 ppm gold. The research findings suggest that organic matter plays crucial roles in ore mineralization processes. Organic matter acts as an active component in the migration of gold, uranium, and hydrocarbons within sulfur-rich hydrothermal fluids. Additionally, organic matter contributes to the entrapment and enrichment of gold in hetero-atomic organic fractions, forming metal-organic compounds. Moreover, uranium inclusions are observed as oxide/phosphate minerals within solid bitumen and associated vitrinite particles. These insights into the occurrence and distribution of gold within organic matter highlight substantial exploration potential, guiding additional research activities focused on organic matter within the Kővágószőllős Sandstone Formation at the Western Mecsek deposit.

• 한국원자력학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국원자력학회 2005년도 춘계학술발표회
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• pp.171-172
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• 2005

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제52권1호
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• pp.109-114
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• 2020

This work presents the results of laboratory scale tests of the CARBOFLUOREX (CARBOnate FLUORide EXtraction) process - a novel technology for the recovery of U and Pu from the solid fluorides residue (fluorination ash) of Fluoride Volatility Method (FVM) reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel (SNF). To study the oxidative leaching of U from the fluorination ash (FA) by Na₂CO₃ or Na₂CO₃-H₂O₂ solutions followed by solvent extraction by methyltrioctylammonium carbonate in toluene and purification of U from the fission products (FPs) impurities we used a surrogate of FA consisting of UF₄ or UO₂F₂, and FPs fluorides with stable isotopes of Ce, Zr, Sr, Ba, Cs, Fe, Cr, Ni, La, Nd, Pr, Sm. Purification factors of U from impurities at the solvent extraction refining stage reached the values of 10⁴-10⁵, and up to 10⁶ upon the completion of the processing cycle. Obtained results showed a high efficiency of the CARBOFLUOREX process for recovery and separating of U from FPs contained in FA, which allows completing of the FVM cycle with recovery of U and Pu from hardly processed FA.

• 한국지하수토양환경학회지:지하수토양환경
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• 제21권6호
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• pp.146-155
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• 2016

The field feasibility tests for a phytoextraction process were performed to identify the effect of citric acid as a chelate on the uranium (U) transfer into the plant for the naturally U contaminated soil in Duckpyeongri, Korea. For the feasibility tests, lettuce and Chinese cabbage were cultivated for 49 days on four testing grounds ($1m{\times}1m{\times}0.5m$ in each) in 2016. The citric acid solution was added to two testing grounds (one for lettuce and the other for Chinese cabbage) increasing the U transfer in two crop plants and their results were compared to those without the citric acid solution. When without the citric acid solution, the U concentration of plant after the cultivation was low (< $45{\mu}g/kg$ for leaves and < $450{\mu}g/kg$ for roots). However, with the addition of 50 mM citric acid solution, the U concentration of lettuce leaves and roots increased by 24 times and 1.8 times, and the U concentration of Chinese cabbage leaves and roots increased by 86.7 times and 5.4 times. The absolute accumulated U amount (${\mu}g$) in lettuce and Chinese cabbage also increased by 8.7 times and 50 times, compared to those without citric acid solution. Less than 8% of the U amount of exchangeable/carbonate phases was removed by using the lettuce and Chinese cabbage when the citric acid solution was not applied. However 52% and 66% of the U amount in exchangeable/carbonate phases were removed by the lettuce and the Chinese cabbage when the citric acid solution was added. The effect of the citric acid on the U transfer capability into the plants was quantitatively investigated by the field feasibility test, suggesting that U existing as exchangeable/carbonate phase in soil can be successfully removed by the phytoextraction process using Chinese cabbage with citric acid.