Recovery of Plutonium from Analytical Laboratory Waste using Hollow Fiber Supported Liquid Membrane Technique

Abstract

Plutonium from analytical laboratory waste was recovered on liters scale using Hollow Fiber Supported Liquid Membrane (HFSLM) technique using 30% TBP/n-dodecane as the carrier. The technique is faster, gives lower radiation exposure to the working personnel, and generates lower volume of secondary waste as compared to traditional precipitation/ion-exchange technique. The recovery of plutonium was carried out in two stages from waste containing a mixture of 3.22 g/L Pu, 110 g/L U, and 60.2 mg/L Am. In the first stage, >96% Pu(IV) and U(VI) were transported into the receiver phase in two hours. The Am(III) contamination in the Pu(IV) and U(VI) fraction was <0.1%. In the subsequent stage, plutonium was reduced to Pu(III) and U(VI) was selectively transported in to the receiver phase. In this method, a pure fraction of uranium was also obtained along with pure fraction of plutonium. The purity of plutonium fraction was confirmed by ICP-AES analysis.