Preparation of novel silica-based R-BTP extraction-resins and their application to trivalent actinides and lanthanides separation

Wei, Y.*; Hoshi, Harutaka*; Kumagai, Mikio*; Asakura, Toshihide; Uchiyama, Gunzo* 

To separate long-lived minor actinides and specific fission products such as Zr and Mo from nitrate acidic high-level liquid waste, we studied an advanced partitioning process by extraction chromatography using minimal organic solvent and compact equipment. In this work, we synthesized several new type of nitrogen donor ligands, 2,6-bi-(5,6-dialkyl-1,2,4-triazine-3-yl)-pyridine (R-BTP) with different alkyl groups and prepared novel silica-based extraction-resins by impregnating these ligands into the SiO-P support with a diameter of 50 m. The adsorption performance of Am and Ln (III) from nitrate solution was investigated. It was found that the adsorption behavior depends strongly on the alkyl group in R-BTP. Bu-BTP/SiO-P and Hex-BTP/SiO-P showed high absorbability and selectivity for Am (III) over Ln (III). The separation factor is about 10 for Am/Ce and near 10 for Am/Eu-Gd, respectively. Effective Am (III) separation form Ln (III) by extraction chromatography using R-BTP/SiO-P extraction-resins is expected.