Extraction and separation of uranium, plutonium and americium from MOX fuel rejected waste and analytical phosphoric acid based waste using organophosphorus extractants

The extraction of U, Pu and Am from HNO3 solutions using tri-n-butyl phosphate (TBP), a mixture of 0.2M CMPO + 1.2M TBP and Cyanex-923 in dodecane has been carried out. The mixed oxide (MOX) fuel rejected during fabrication, termed as dirty rejected oxide (DRO) sludge was dissolved in HNO3 and a procedure has been developed to recover U, Pu and Am from this waste using the above extractants. Also, a procedure has been developed to recover almost quantitatively the U, Pu and Am content from one of the difficult analytical wastes generated after the Davies and Gray analysis of U, in presence of Pu containing H3PO4, H2SO4, and HNO3, by using a mixture of 30% Cyanex-923 + 20% TBP in dodecane. (author)