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Monitoring the plutonium depletion in dissolution residues of a spent fuel solution using a surrogate and plutonium isotope ratio measurements

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Abstract

This study presents the development of an innovative experiment using a surrogate, for monitoring the depletion kinetics of plutonium dissolution residues in an irradiated fuel dissolution solution containing a high plutonium concentration. The surrogate, a (U,Pu)O2 compound, was synthesized from a plutonium having an isotopic composition different from the dissolution solution. This helps monitoring the plutonium residue depletion by TIMS measurements of the 240Pu/239Pu isotope ratio. Repeatability better than 83 ppm was achieved for the 240Pu/239Pu ratios in each aliquot of the dissolution profiles allowing qualitative and quantitative interpretation of the kinetic evolution that could not be reached by a conventional direct concentration determination.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Dr. S. Baghdadi (IRSN/PSN-EXP/SSRD/BTE) for her precious advice on the present paper. We would like to thank Steve Jan, Barbara Caniffi, Corinne Deshoux, Delphine Vantalon, Bruce Charles, Regis Joulia, Laurent Lancial and Lyonel Trintignac (CEA/MAR/ISEC/DMRC/SASP/L2AT) who have taken part in this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CEA, DES, DMRC, Univ Montpellier, Marcoule, France

    Alexandre Quemet, Emilie Buravand, Brigitte Catanese, Patrick Huot & Vincent Dalier

  2. Onsite Laboratory Team, Nuclear Material Laboratory, Office of Safeguards Analytical Services, Department of Safeguards, International Atomic Energy Agency, Tokyo Regional Office, Seibunkan Bldg, 9F, 1-5-9 Iidabashi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 102-0072, Japan

    Alexandre Ruas

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  1. Alexandre Quemet
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  5. Vincent Dalier
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Correspondence to Alexandre Quemet.

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Quemet, A., Buravand, E., Catanese, B. et al. Monitoring the plutonium depletion in dissolution residues of a spent fuel solution using a surrogate and plutonium isotope ratio measurements. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 326, 255–260 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-020-07311-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-020-07311-5

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