Analysis on adsorbent for spent solvent treatment by micro-PIXE and EXAFS

Arai, Yoichi  ; Watanabe, So  ; Ono, Shimpei; Nakamura, Masahiro  ; Shibata, Atsuhiro  ; Nakamura, Fumiya*; Arai, Tsuyoshi*; Seko, Noriaki*; Hoshina, Hiroyuki*; Hagura, Naoto*; Kubota, Toshio*

The spent PUREX solvent containing U and Pu is generated from the reprocessing process of spent nuclear fuel. The nuclear material removal is important for the safe storage or disposal of the spent solvent. Our previous study revealed that the adsorbent with the iminodiacetic acid (IDA) functional group is one of the most promising materials for designing the nuclear material recovery process. Accordingly, an IDA-type adsorbent was synthesized by using graft polymerization technology or a chemical reaction to improve the adsorption rate and capacity. The synthesized IDA-type adsorbent was characterized by micro particle-induced X-ray emission (PIXE) and extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) analyses. The micro-PIXE analysis revealed that Zr was adsorbed on the whole synthesized adsorbents and quantified the microamount of adsorbed Zr. Moreover, EXAFS suggested that Zr in the aqueous solution and solvent can be trapped by the IDA group with different mechanisms.