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Optimisation of uranium–radium co-leaching from uranium ore

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Abstract

To improve the utilisation of uranium resources while reducing the radioactive contamination of uranium slag by 226Ra, the effects of various factors on uranium–radium co-leaching from uranium ore were investigated. For nitric acid agitation leaching, the optimal performance was achieved using 80 mesh ore in 4 mol L−1 nitric acid at 40 °C for 4 h with a liquid-to-solid ratio of 3. Under these conditions, the uranium leaching rate was > 99% and the radium leaching rate was > 93% with standard deviations of < 0.04% and < 0.7%, respectively. Thus, this approach realises simultaneous uranium and radium leaching at high rates.

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Funding

This work is supported by ‘Key technology research and scale up production of high purity 226Ra from uranium ore’ and ‘Isolation of trivalent lanthanides from water-soluble bis-triazolopyridine’(Grant No. 200SJY011).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Nuclear Science and Technology, University of South China, No. 28, Changshengxi Road, Zhengxiang District, Hengyang, China

    Zixuan Bai, Fangfang Wu & Quan Tang

  2. Chengdu New Radiomedicine Technology Co., Ltd., No. 999, Muhua Rd. 2nd Section, Shuangliu District, Chengdu, China

    Xiaosheng Zhao & Jun Zhang

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  1. Zixuan Bai
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  2. Xiaosheng Zhao
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  3. Jun Zhang
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  4. Fangfang Wu
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  5. Quan Tang
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Correspondence to Quan Tang.

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Bai, Z., Zhao, X., Zhang, J. et al. Optimisation of uranium–radium co-leaching from uranium ore. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 332, 1841–1845 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-023-08892-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-023-08892-7

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