Abstracts and Available Papers Presented at the 2004 International RERTR Meeting
THERMOXID SORBENTS FOR THE SEPARATION AND PURIFICATION
OF 99MO
A. J. Bakel, S. B. Aase, A. A. Leyva, K. J. Quigley,
and G. F. Vandegrift
Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 S. Cass Avenue.,
Argonne, IL--USA
ABSTRACT
The Argonne National Laboratory Reduced Enrichment for
Research and Test Reactors Program is performing R & D
supporting conversion of 99Mo production from
high-enriched to low-enriched uranium targets. One of
the major obstacles to conversion is the fivefold
increase of the amount of uranium needed to produce an
equivalent amount of 99Mo. The additional uranium could
lead to an increase in the volume of liquid processed
and the volume of liquid waste. The use of an efficient,
high capacity sorbent would allow for small purification
columns and minimum liquid volumes throughout the
process. Thermoxid has developed an inorganic sorbent
that meets these requirements. Our batch tests show that
Thermoxid sorbents have much higher Kd(Mo) values than
the commonly used alumina under a wide variety of
conditions (20 – 100 g U / L, 0.5 – 1.5 M HNO3, 4, 24,
and 48 hours) relevant to acid-side 99Mo production and
recovery processes. The Kd(Mo) values for the Thermoxid
and alumina sorbents are inversely proportional to both
uranium concentration and acidity. Overall, these new
sorbents appear to have superior performance and would
allow for smaller separation/purification columns than
are possible using alumina as the sorbent.
Contact: Dr. Jordi Roglans-Ribas
Technical Director, RERTR Department
Nuclear Engineering Division – 362
Argonne National Laboratory
9700 South Cass Avenue
Argonne, IL 60439
Fax: +1 630-252-5161
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