Supercritical fluid extraction of plutonium and americium from soil using thenoyltrifluoroacetone and tributylphosphate complexation
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Bruce J. Mincher
Samples of clean soil from the source used to backfill pits at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory´s Radioactive Waste Management Complex were spiked with 239Pu and 241Am to evaluate ligand-assisted supercritical fluid extraction as a decontamination method. The actual soil in the pits has been subject to approximately three decades of weathering since it was originally contaminated. No surrogate soil can perfectly simulate the real event, but actual contaminated soil was not available for research purposes. However, fractionation of Am and Pu in the surrogate soil was found to be similar to that previously measured in the real soil using a sequential aqueous extraction procedure. This suggests that Pu and Am behavior are similar in the two soils. The surrogate was subjected to supercritical carbon dioxide extraction, in the presence of the fluorinated beta diketone thenoyltrifluoroacetone (TTA), and tributylphosphate (TBP). As much as 69% of the Pu and 88% of the Am were removed from the soil using 3.2 mol.% TTA and 2.7 mol.% TBP, in a single 45 minute extraction. Extraction conditions employing a 5 mol.% ethanol modifier with 0.33 mol.% TTA and 0.27 mol.% TBP resulted in 66% Pu and 68% Am extracted. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the use of supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) for the removal of actinides from soil.
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Articles in the same Issue
- Sequential separation of americium, curium, plutonium, neptunium and uranium in various matrices from the electrometallurgic treatment of spent-nuclear fuel
- Supercritical fluid extraction of plutonium and americium from soil using thenoyltrifluoroacetone and tributylphosphate complexation
- A comparison of the extraction of carrier-free 176,177W and 99Mo with that of U, Th, Am, Cm, La, Ce, Tm, Yb, Lu, and Hf into tri-n-octyl amine in toluene from nitric, phosphoric, and sulphuric acid media
- EXAFS investigation of uranium(VI) complexes formed at Bacillus cereus and Bacillus sphaericus surfaces
- Thorium isotope fractionation in the dissolution of inorganic samples by a microwave method
- Diffusion of 99Tc in granite: A small scale laboratory simulation experiment
- Migration of 99Tc in unsaturated Chinese loess under artificial rainfall condition: an in situ test
- Separation and speciation of fission products by zirconium phosphate prepared by solid-solid reaction
- Interaction study between Ca2+ and humic acids in brine media
- 223Ra for endoradiotherapeutic applications prepared from an immobilized 227Ac/227Th source
Articles in the same Issue
- Sequential separation of americium, curium, plutonium, neptunium and uranium in various matrices from the electrometallurgic treatment of spent-nuclear fuel
- Supercritical fluid extraction of plutonium and americium from soil using thenoyltrifluoroacetone and tributylphosphate complexation
- A comparison of the extraction of carrier-free 176,177W and 99Mo with that of U, Th, Am, Cm, La, Ce, Tm, Yb, Lu, and Hf into tri-n-octyl amine in toluene from nitric, phosphoric, and sulphuric acid media
- EXAFS investigation of uranium(VI) complexes formed at Bacillus cereus and Bacillus sphaericus surfaces
- Thorium isotope fractionation in the dissolution of inorganic samples by a microwave method
- Diffusion of 99Tc in granite: A small scale laboratory simulation experiment
- Migration of 99Tc in unsaturated Chinese loess under artificial rainfall condition: an in situ test
- Separation and speciation of fission products by zirconium phosphate prepared by solid-solid reaction
- Interaction study between Ca2+ and humic acids in brine media
- 223Ra for endoradiotherapeutic applications prepared from an immobilized 227Ac/227Th source
