[1H06-10] Separation and Recovery of Actinide Elements

[1H09] Batchwise multi-stage extraction using ADAAM extractant for mutual separation of Am and Cm

*Yuji Sasaki¹, Masashi Kaneko¹, Hideya Suzuki¹, Yasutoshi Ban¹ (1. Japan Atomic Energy Agency)

Keywords:Am, Cm, Mutual separation, ADAAM, Solvent extraction

ADAAM, which is a tridentate diamide including tertiary N atom and developed by JAEA, shows very high separation factor (SF=6) of Am/Cm in nitric acid-n-dodecane system. We tried to enlarge SF using masking agents, however, it is not successful up to now. Thus, the batchwise multi-stage extraction using solo ADAAM for Am/Cm separation is performed. One of the advantages for this technique is available individually to use small volumes (less than 10 ml) of organic and aqueous phases. Experiments using 3, 9, and 11 stages of feed, scrub and organic phase show the results of 96.47 % of Am extraction with 1.06 % of Cm. On the other hand, because of relatively low SF, volume of the feed solution may increase several times after multi-stage extraction. In this presentation, we discuss how to cut down their volumes.