Precipitation ability to U(IV) and stability of 1,3-dimethyl-2-imidazolidone for selective precipitation of U(VI) in nitric acid media

Nogami, Masanobu*; Harada, Masayuki*; Sugiyama, Yuichi*; Kawasaki, Takeshi*; Kawata, Yoshihisa*; Morita, Yasuji  ; Kikuchi, Toshiaki*; Ikeda, Yasuhisa*

The precipitation ability of 1,3-dimethyl-2-imidazolidone (DMI) to U(VI) and U(IV) was examined using nitric acid solutions. While DMI precipitated U(VI) from 3 M nitric acid, no precipitate was observed in the solution containing 0.15 M U(IV) and 3 M nitric acid by adding DMI at the ratio of [DMI]/[U(IV)]=5. This indicates that the selectivity of DMI to U(VI) than U(IV). In spite of the excellent selectivity to U(VI), DMI has a disadvantage on the stability in nitric acid, because gradual acid hydrolysis of DMI is inevitable due to the nature of the chemical structure. Experiments on the stability of DMI in -ray irradiation and heating in nitric acid solutions showed that the stability is strongly affected by the concentration of nitric acid and that DMI may be applicable in nitric acid solutions up to ca. 2 M.