Uranium extraction with TiAP solvent in multistage annular centrifugal extractor

PUREX process has been widely employed in nuclear reprocessing industries for more than six decades to separate U and Pu from the spent nuclear fuel. Even though, the solution of 1.1 M TBP in n-dodecane or NPH is regarded as workhorse of PUREX process, it has some limitations, such as (i) third phase formation, (ii) aqueous solubility, and (iii) chemical and radiation degradation, etc. The above limitations pose a number of problems in the fast reactor fuel reprocessing. To overcome the above limitations, alternate solvents were developed. Among the various solvent, tri-iso-amylphosphate (TiAP) is found to be the most promising solvent for fast reactor fuel reprocessing applications. The main advantages of TiAP are low aqueous solubility and the higher third phase formation limits. Uranium concentration profiles with respect to ACE stages were compared with mixer settler runs reported in literature. The comparison revealed that the uranium concentration profiles in a 16 stages ACE was quite similar to the literature reported data. Uranium concentration profile w.r.t to ACE stage is shown in the article. From extraction results, it was concluded that four stages were required to complete the uranium extraction