The preparation and characterisation of highly selective adsorbents for fission product removal from acid solutions
type: CreativeWork
description: Nuclear fuel reprocessing of fissile materials is carried out in order to provide recycled fuel for existing and future nuclear power plants. One aim of reprocessing is to recover unused uranium (U-238 and U-235) and plutonium isotopes thereby preventing them from being wasted. This can save up to 30% of the natural uranium that is required each year for the fabrication of new nuclear fuel. A second aim is to reduce the volume of high-level radioactive waste. Along with the separation of uranium and plutonium there has been a significant interest in the extraction of short-lived fission products such as caesium and strontium, which play critical role during high-level waste handling and disposal. The PUREX process for reprocessing of irradiated fuel has been unchallenged for more than half a century even though it has several deficiencies such as flexibility, non-specificity of Tri-Butyl Phosphate (TBP), degradation of the extractant, TBP, and diluent. This project addresses the development of an alternative separation process to either replace and/or complement the PUREX process. Our process is based on the chromatographic separation of fission products from U and Pu. This research focuses on the synthesis of highly stable and selective materials which could be used as a stationary phase in a continuous chromatographic separation for short lived fission products (Cs, Sr); a technique patented by UCLan. The objectives of this project were to synthesis highly selective adsorbents for fission products (primarily Cs and Sr) capable of extracting these cations from acidic liquor (up to 3 M HNO3). In addition to selectivity (specificity) and acid stability, the materials under investigation would require fast cation uptake and high capacity. The research explored three key approaches for ion sorption: (1) Creating charge imbalance into ordered mesoporous MCM-41 structure (chapter 4), (2) Examination of molecular sieves based on their size exclusive property (chapter 5), …
abstract: Nuclear fuel reprocessing of fissile materials is carried out in order to provide recycled fuel for existing and future nuclear power plants. One aim of reprocessing is to recover unused uranium (U-238 and U-235) and plutonium isotopes thereby preventing them from being wasted. This can save up to 30% of the natural uranium that is required each year for the fabrication of new nuclear fuel. A second aim is to reduce the volume of high-level radioactive waste. Along with the separation of uranium and plutonium there has been a significant interest in the extraction of short-lived fission products such as caesium and strontium, which play critical role during high-level waste handling and disposal. The PUREX process for reprocessing of irradiated fuel has been unchallenged for more than half a century even though it has several deficiencies such as flexibility, non-specificity of Tri-Butyl Phosphate (TBP), degradation of the extractant, TBP, and diluent. This project addresses the development of an alternative separation process to either replace and/or complement the PUREX process. Our process is based on the chromatographic separation of fission products from U and Pu. This research focuses on the synthesis of highly stable and selective materials which could be used as a stationary phase in a continuous chromatographic separation for short lived fission products (Cs, Sr); a technique patented by UCLan. The objectives of this project were to synthesis highly selective adsorbents for fission products (primarily Cs and Sr) capable of extracting these cations from acidic liquor (up to 3 M HNO3). In addition to selectivity (specificity) and acid stability, the materials under investigation would require fast cation uptake and high capacity. The research explored three key approaches for ion sorption: (1) Creating charge imbalance into ordered mesoporous MCM-41 structure (chapter 4), (2) Examination of molecular sieves based on their size exclusive property (chapter 5), …
author: Kavi, Parthiv
language: en
keywords: F200 - Materials science
date published: 2016-07
date modified: 2026-07-24T01:35:53Z
provider: University of Central Lancashire
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Central Lancashire