Separation of some burn-up monitors from the UO2-Al nuclear fuel

The separation of cesium, cerium, neodymium, europium and uranium from the UO2-Al fuel samples has been studied. ExpExperiments were carried out with unirradiated and irradiated fuel samples. The dissolved samples contained a large excess of aluminium with respect to uranium (the molar ratio Al:U was 17.1). The presence of aluminium particularly disturbed the chromatographic separation of the lanthanide burn-up monitors. The latter were separated from uranium and from one another using the precipitation method with a cerium carrier, followed by extraction with HDEHP and a column separation with the same extractant. Aluminium and uranium first were determined together as precipitates with 8-hydroxychinoline, and then the uranium contribution was independently assayed potentiometrically with a K2Cr2O7 solution. (author)