A novel method for molybdenum-99/technetium-99m recovery via anodic carbonate dissolution of irradiated low-enriched uranium metal foil

M. Alex Brown, Artem V. Gelis, Jeffrey A. Fortner, James L. Jerden, Stan Wiedmeyer, George F. Vandegrift

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

A new method is presented here for digesting irradiated low-enriched uranium foil targets in alkaline carbonate media to recover 99Mo. This method consists of the electrolytic dissolution of uranium foil in a sodium bicarbonate solution, followed by the precipitation of carbonate, base-insoluble fission products, activation products, and actinides with calcium oxide; most of the molybdenum, technetium, and iodine remain in solution. An electrochemical dissolver and mixing vessel were designed, fabricated, and tested for the processing of a full-sized irradiated foil under ambient pressure and elevated temperature. Over 92% of the fission-induced 99Mo was recovered in a product solution that was compatible with an anion-exchange column for retaining molybdenum and iodine.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)712-719
Number of pages8
JournalIndustrial and Engineering Chemistry Research
Volume54
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 21 2015
Externally publishedYes

Funding

FundersFunder number
U.S. Department of Energy

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