Development of the solvent extraction technique for U-Pu-Np co-recovery in the NEXT process

Sano, Yuichi   ; Ogino, Hideki; Washiya, Tadahiro ; Myochin, Munetaka

In the FaCT Project, JAEA has been working on the improvement of solvent extraction for U-Pu-Np co-recovery as a part of the advanced aqueous reprocessing process (NEXT process) development. In the process development, the appropriate flowsheet condition was indicated for the efficient Np co-extraction with U and Pu, and their sufficient co-stripping. On the experiments with the engineering-scale centrifugal contactors, excellent extraction and stripping performances were obtained. In addition, the high durability of the centrifugal contactor using the magnetic bearing was confirmed.