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Initial development of an alkaline process for recovery of uranium from 99Mo production process waste residue

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Abstract

An ammonium carbonate-based process is being developed for the recovery of uranium from the residue generated by an alkaline dissolution process used in the production of the medical isotope 99Mo. As a unique application of this dissolution medium, this is the first attempt at uranium recovery from a commercial 99Mo production process. Dissolution parameters were optimized with unirradiated residue material and applied to irradiated residue in a small hot cell. Complete recovery of uranium from the residue was achieved with three successive ammonium carbonate/peroxide leaches with final decontamination factors ranging from low values of 1–10 (137Cs, 106Ru, 125Sb) to infinity (lanthanides).

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Acknowledgments

This work is based on the research supported in part by Necsa, the National Nuclear Security Administration of the United States of America and the National Research Foundation of South Africa (NRF) for the Grant 84235. Any opinion, finding and conclusion or recommendation expressed here is that of the authors and the NRF does not accept any liability in this regard.

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  1. Necsa (South African Nuclear Energy Corporation SOC Ltd), Elias Motsoaledi Street Extension, R104 Pelindaba, P.O. Box 582, Pretoria, 0001, South Africa

    Lize Stassen & Janine Suthiram

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  1. Lize Stassen
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  2. Janine Suthiram
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Correspondence to Lize Stassen.

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Stassen, L., Suthiram, J. Initial development of an alkaline process for recovery of uranium from 99Mo production process waste residue. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 305, 41–50 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-015-3974-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-015-3974-z

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