Effluent polishing of ammoniacal supernatant containing Uranium-233 using TBP impregnated XAD

²³³U is one of the key fissile materials in India's three stage nuclear program. ²³³U is produced by the irradiation of Thoria rods in research reactor and in power reactor. In Uranium Thorium Separation Facility (UTSF) Trombay, ²³³U is separated from thoria rods irradiated in research reactors where as ²³³U from Thoria rods irradiated from power reactors are separated in Power Reactor Thoria Reprocessing Facility (PRTRF). In the UTSF laboratory the product uranyl nitrate solution was subjected to sequential precipitation technique to separate Uranium from the contamination of Thorium and Iron. Ammoniacal supernatant generated during the sequential precipitation where first Thorium is precipitated as oxalate followed by Uranium as ADU contains milligram level of ²³³U. To recover the ²³³U, first the solution was acidified and adjusted the acidity to 2 M and treated with known excess of saturated KMnO₄ to destruct oxalate ions then the excess KMnO₄ was treated with H₂O₂. After keeping this oxalate free supernatant, overnight for the removal of nascent oxygen. Then the solution was passed through a column containing TBP impregnated XAD to load uranium. Loading effluent containing microgram level of Uranium was disposed through RSMS. Initial experiment was carried out with 5 ml solution of ²³³U (conc 1.6 g/l) was passed through a glass column containing a pre-conditioned TBP-XAD bed of 13 cm height and 1.0 cm dia containing 10 g of TBP-XAD. The flow rate was maintained at 0.3 ml per min (18 ml per hour). Loading effluent was collected at an interval of 3 min and analysed, after sufficient displacement of conditioned acid