Selective Pd separation from simulated radioactive liquid waste by precipitation using xenon lamp irradiation for a simplified procedure

Yomogida, Takumi   ; Saeki, Morihisa*; Morii, Shiori  ; Oba, Hironori*  ; Kitatsuji, Yoshihiro  

In this study, we developed a simple and one-step Pd separation technique based on photoreduction with Xe lamp irradiation for the determination of Pd in highly radioactive samples. A simulated high-level radioactive liquid wastes (HLLW) solution, which consists of 14 major elements (Rb, Sr, Zr, Mo, Ru, Rh, Pd, Cs, Ba, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm) in a 3 mol L HNO solution, was used to evaluate the separation performance. The Pd precipitate were formed by Xe lamp irradiation and recovered by centrifugation. The results showed that the recovery of Pd from a simulated HLLW solution depend on the irradiation time and concentration of ethanol. By optimizing the conditions at photo irradiation, the Pd recovery from the simulated HLLW solution reached up to 50 %, while 99.5 % of the other 13 elements were separated. The Pd precipitate could be separated from the elements that are the main source of radioactivity (Sr, Cs, and Ba) and the source of spectral interference for the determination of Pd (Zr, and Ru). These results indicate that selective separation of Pd is achieved with the proposed method, showing the applicability of the proposed separation technique to HLLW samples.