Separation cum purification of americium from the mixture containing plutonium and uranium

A flow sheet was developed for the separation of americium and plutonium from a mixture of uranium, plutonium and americium, in which all of them were present in gram quantities. Because of the 60 kev gamma associated with Am241, adequate safety measures had to be taken in order to control the radiation exposure to the minimum. After extensive experimental studies, a flow sheet involving the combination of anion exchange, solvent extraction, extraction chromatography and precipitation, which was amenable to safe and remote handling, was adopted to effect the separation. (author). 4 refs., 1 tab