Application of Impregnated Resins for the Recovery of Actinides from Alpha Contaminated Solid Waste

An extraction chromatographic separation scheme has been developed using impregnated resin for the processing of actual plutonium contaminated solid analytical assorted waste. The effluent obtained on anion exchange chromatography during plutonium purification step was processed by tri‐n‐butyl phosphate (TBP) and tetra 2‐ethylhexyl diglycolamide (T2EHDGA) augmented XAD‐4 resin to remove uranium and americium, respectively, while Ag ion was electrochemically separated further. The augmentation of TBP and T2EHDGA functionalities on XAD‐4 have been evidenced by FTIR spectroscopy, TG and DSC analysis. The modification in surface morphology on augmentation has been investigated by SEM, while elemental mapping and EDS heteroatom analysis indicated the successful functionalization/impregnation of the resin. In case of U removal by TBP augmented XAD‐4 resin, starting from 3 gL−1 feed in 7.2 M HNO3, a maximum of 93 % U was found to be loaded on the column, which can quantitatively be back extracted by 0.01 M HNO3. Despite ∼10 % reduction in loading capacity during the 3rd consecutive cycle, the efficacy of this column chromatographic separation of U has been demonstrated successfully. The raffinate of this step was used as feed for Am3+ separation using T2EHDGA‐XAD‐4. A maximum of 98 % loading and almost quantitative elution have been observed during this step and the performance recyclability has been checked for three consecutive cycles. The loading of U and Eu (Am analogue) has been evidenced by elemental mapping and energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy (EDS)analyses of loaded resin. Nuclear waste remediation is of great environmental concern. Novel impregnated resin materials were synthesized and applied for selective recovery of U, Am and Ag from plutonium contaminated stream by extraction chromatography. A flow chart has been developed for the separation and performance was evaluated for three consecutive cycles. The functional groups like tri‐n‐butyl phosphate has been augmented on resin to induce the selectivity and efficiency of the chromatographic material towards UO22+, while tetra 2‐ethylhexyl diglycolamide moieties have been introduced to the resin to impose the affinity towards Am3+. The loading of f‐block elements have been evidenced by SEM elemental mapping and EDX analysis.