Initial development of an alkaline process for recovery of uranium from 99Mo production process waste residue

Abstract

An ammonium carbonate-based process is being developed for the recovery of uranium from the residue generated by an alkaline dissolution process used in the production of the medical isotope 99Mo. As a unique application of this dissolution medium, this is the first attempt at uranium recovery from a commercial 99Mo production process. Dissolution parameters were optimized with unirradiated residue material and applied to irradiated residue in a small hot cell. Complete recovery of uranium from the residue was achieved with three successive ammonium carbonate/peroxide leaches with final decontamination factors ranging from low values of 1–10 (137Cs, 106Ru, 125Sb) to infinity (lanthanides).