Isolation of lanthanides from spent nuclear fuel by means of high performance ion chromatography (HPIC) prior to mass spectrometric analysis

    Research outputpeer-review

    Abstract

    Pure and complete fractions of neodymium, samarium, europium, gadolinium and dysprosium were isolated by means of high performance ion chromatography, using a cation exchange column and gradient elution
    with alpha-hydroxyisobutyric acid solutions (α-HIBA). Intermediate precision and robustness of the isolation method was investigated, identifying eluent pH as the most important parameter. Investigation of the elution behavior of the most important fission and activation products and actinides indicated that preventing the accumulation of cesium on the cation exchange column required further isocratic elution with a higher concentrated α-HIBA solution after elution of the lanthanides. A sample matrix free of carbon was achieved by means of acid digestion, followed by UV photo-oxidation, resulting in samples suitable for mass spectrometric analysis.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)1727-1739
    JournalJournal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry
    Volume314
    Issue number3
    DOIs
    StatePublished - 20 Oct 2017

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