A chromatography chemistry for purifying Pa from U-Nb metal alloys

We present a chromatography chemistry for purifying protactinium from uranium metal alloys containing weight-percent concentrations of niobium. Niobium is precipitated in 9 M HCl without the co-precipitation of Pa as demonstrated by gamma-ray spectrometry. Protactinium is further purified using Bio-...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of radioanalytical and nuclear chemistry Vol. 332; no. 2; pp. 369 - 376
Main Authors Engel, John R., Denton, Joanna S., Lamont, Stephen P., Buettner, Jacob E., Chen, Christine Y., Steiner, Robert E., Kayzar-Boggs, Theresa M.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Cham Springer International Publishing 01.02.2023
Springer
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects
Alloys
Analysis
Chemistry
Chemistry and Materials Science
Chromatography
Diagnostic Radiology
Dilution
Gamma rays
Hadrons
Heavy Ions
Inorganic Chemistry
Niobium
Nuclear Chemistry
Nuclear Physics
Physical Chemistry
Protactinium
Uranium
Uranium base alloys
Uranium
U-alloy
Nuclear forensics
Radiochronometry
Protactinium
Separation chemistry
Niobium
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Summary:We present a chromatography chemistry for purifying protactinium from uranium metal alloys containing weight-percent concentrations of niobium. Niobium is precipitated in 9 M HCl without the co-precipitation of Pa as demonstrated by gamma-ray spectrometry. Protactinium is further purified using Bio-Rad™ anion resin AG® 1-X8 and 9 M HCl + 0.0128 M HF. A Pa/Nb separation factor of 85,000 and a 90% Pa recovery is demonstrated, which is amenable to 231 Pa concentration determination by isotope dilution and 231 Pa/ 235 U model age calculation for nuclear forensics.
ISSN:0236-5731
1588-2780
DOI:10.1007/s10967-022-08747-7