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Extraction of uranium in caustic sludge from the production of nuclear fuel components by countercurrent dissolution and acid curing

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Abstract

The uraniferous caustic sludge (UCS) produced in the production of uranium fuel components was hardly to leach directly, due to its very low-grade uranium(<10%). A two-step operation, consisting of the three-stage countercurrent dissolution and subsequent H2SO4 curing processes, was conducted to deal with UCS. The results of the three-stage countercurrent dissolution process showed that the uranium content in UCS was decreased from 8.66 to 1.06%, the residual ratio was less than 18%, and the leaching rate of uranium was 98% or more. The results of H2SO4 curing process showed that the leaching rate of uranium could be controlled at more than 99.9%, and the uranium content of UCS was decreased to 0.19%. The process may serve the purpose of recovering uranium from uranium-containing alkaline residues with complex source.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Nuclear energy development project of China (190GJG001), the Open Fund from the State Key Laboratory of Nuclear Resources and Environment of East China Institute of Technology(2020NRE02).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Resources Environment and Safety Engineering, University of South China, Hengyang, China

    Eming Hu, Zhiwu Lei, Hongqiang Wang, Hao Su, Wen Zhou & Qingliang Wang

  2. Key Discipline Laboratory of National Defence for Biotechnology in Uranium Mining and Hydrometallurgy, University of South China, Hengyang, China

    Eming Hu, Zhiwu Lei, Hongqiang Wang, Hao Su, Wen Zhou & Qingliang Wang

  3. State Key Laboratory of Nuclear Resources and Environment, East China University of Technology, Nanchang, China

    Zhiwu Lei

  4. Jianzhong Nuclear Fuel co.,Ltd, China National Nuclear Corporation, Yibin, China

    Qiang Wan & Fangping Zhu

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  1. Eming Hu
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  2. Zhiwu Lei
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  3. Hongqiang Wang
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  4. Hao Su
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  5. Wen Zhou
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  6. Qiang Wan
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  8. Qingliang Wang
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Correspondence to Qingliang Wang.

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Hu, E., Lei, Z., Wang, H. et al. Extraction of uranium in caustic sludge from the production of nuclear fuel components by countercurrent dissolution and acid curing. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 331, 2445–2450 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-022-08234-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-022-08234-z

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