Investigation on Separation of 99Mo from Low Enriched Uranium Target by Al2O3 Chromatography

Al2O3 chromatography is usally used for separation and purification of 99Mo in the production process of fission 99Mo. To establish the separation process for fission 99Mo from low enriched uranium (LEU) target by Al2O3 chromatography, the effect of 99Mo adsorption on acidic Al2O3 with different conditions of time, temperature, concentration of nitric acid and pretreatment method of Al2O3 were studied. Decontamination effectiveness of major impurities including Sr, Ru, Zr, Te, Cs and I with Al2O3 chromatographic method was evaluated. From experimental results, strong adsorption (more than 99%) of Mo on Al2O3 in 0.05-0.1 mol/L HNO3 solution was observed and no adsorption happened in NH4OH solution. The Al2O3-C activated at 500 ℃ for 3 h had a larger specific surface area than those of Al2O3-B activated at 150 ℃ for 3 h and Al2O3-A pretreated at 60 ℃. In addition, Al2O3-C had a better adsorption performance for Mo than Al2O3-B and Al2O3-A in HNO3 solution with concentration greater than 0.1 mol/L, the recovery