Abstract
A method intended for the mg scale separation of curium (Cm) from americium (Am) and plutonium (Pu) based on high pressure liquid chromatography using a strong cation exchange column has been investigated. Reproducible separations were achieved on the Luna SCX (Phenomenex) column with α-hydroxymethylbutyric acid (α-HMBA) as eluant. The separation performance was investigated on the tracer level varying the pH, concentration, temperature and flow rate of the eluting solution. It was found that 0.1 M α-HMBA at a pH of 3.7 using a flow-rate of 1 mL/min, gave enough peak resolution for an efficient and reproducible separation of Cm from Am. Separations with gadolinium loading were investigated to scale up the purification of Cm from tracer level to mg scale. Baseline chromatographic separations were demonstrated in column loadings of up to 20% of full column capacity, corresponding to 2.5 mg of Cm.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ensslin N, Harker WC, Krick MS, Langner DG, Pickrel MML, Stewart JE (1998) Application guide to neutron multiplicity counting. LA-13422-M, Los Alamos National Laboratory Report
Rinard PM, Menlove HO (1997) Applications of curium measurements for safeguarding at large-scale reprocessing plants. LA-UR-97-1449, Los Alamos National Laboratory Report
Nash KL, Madic C, Mathur JN, Lacquement J (2006) In Chapt. 12, Actinide separation science and technology. In: Morss LR, Edelstein NM, Fuger J, Katz JJ (eds) The chemistry of the actinide and transactinide elements, 3rd edn. Springer, Dordrecht
Modolo G, Kluxen P, Geist A (2010) Demonstration of the LUCA process for the separation of americium(III) from curium(III), californium(III), and lanthanides(III) in acidic solution using a synergistic mixture of bis(chlorophenyl)dithiophosphinic acid and tris(2-ethylhexyl)phosphate. Radiochim Acta 98:193–201
Pimpl M, Hiller J, Schüttelkopf H (1980) Trennung von Plutonium, Americium und Curium auf einer Kationenaustauschersäule mit Hochdruckflüssigkeitschromatographie, (Hauptabteilung Sicherheit Kernforschungszentrum, KfK 3076 B
Van Hoecke K, Bussé J, Gysemans M, Le Adriaensen, Dobney A, Cardinaels T (2017) Isolation of lanthanides from spent nuclear fuel by means of high performance ion chromatography (HPIC) prior to mass spectrometric analysis. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 314(3):1727–1739
Chartier F, Aubert M, Pilier M (1999) Determination of Am and Cm in spent nuclear fuels by isotope dilution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and isotope dilution thermal ionisation mass spectrometry after separation by high-performance liquid chromatography. Fresenius J Anal Chem 364:320–327
Röllin S, Kopatjtic Z, Wernli B, Magyar B (1996) Determination of lanthanides and actinides in uranium materials by high-performance liquid chromatography with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometric detection. J Chromatogr A 739(1–2):139–149
Billon A (1997) Analytical separation of americium and curium using high performance liquid chromatography. J Radioanal Chem 51:297–305
Koyama S, Ozawa M, Suzuki T, Fujii Y (2006) Development of a multi-functional reprocessing process based on ion-exchange method by using tertiary pyridine-type resin. J Nucl Sci Technol 43(6):681–689
Warwick PE, Croudace W, Carpenter R (1996) Review of analytical techniques for the determination of americium-241 in soils and sediments. Appl Radiat lsot 47:627–642
Kumar P, Paul S, Jaison PG, Telmore VM, Alamelu D, Aggarwal SK (2014) HPLC method for determination of Th, U and Pu in irradiated (Th, Pu)O2 using mandelic acid as an eluent. Radiochim Acta 102(11):973–982
Betti M (1997) Use of ion chromatography for the determination of fission products and actinides in nuclear applications. J Chromatogr A 789:369–373
Goutelard F, Caussignac C, Brennetot R, Stadelmann G, Gautier C (2009) Optimization conditions for the separation of rare earth elements, americium, curium and cesium with HPLC technique. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 282:669–675
Choppin GR, Silva RJ (1956) Separation of the lanthanides by ion exchange with α-hydroxyisobutyric acid. J Inorg Nucl Chem 3:153–154
Guillaumont R, Fanghanel T, Fuger J, Grenthe I, Neck V, Palmer DA, Rand MH (2003) Update on the chemical thermodynamics of uranium, neptunium, plutonium, americium and technetium; chemical thermodynamics series 5. Elsevier, Amsterdam
Fuping H, Haddad P, Jackson PE, Carnevale J (1993) Studies on the retention behaviour of α-hydroxyisobutyric acid complexes of thorium(IV) and uranyl ion in reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. J Chromatogr 640:187–191
Seaborg GT (1993) Overview of the actinide and lanthanide (the f) elements. Radiochim Acta 61:115–122
Johansson B (2000) Structural and electronic relationships between the lanthanide and actinide elements. Hyperfine Interact 128:41–66
Acknowledgements
We acknowledge Prof. Dr. Roberto Caicuffo, European Commission, Joint Research Centre—JRC, Directorate G, Karlsruhe, Germany for scientific discussions and his continuous support throughout this work.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Banik, N.l., Lützenkirchen, K., Malmbeck, R. et al. A method for the mg scale separation of curium(III) from americium(III) by HPLC using a SCX column. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 321, 841–849 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-019-06653-z
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-019-06653-z