Irradiation degradation of adsorbents for minor actinides recovery

Watanabe, So  ; Sano, Yuichi   ; Kofuji, Hirohide  ; Takeuchi, Masayuki ; Koizumi, Tsutomu

Extraction chromatography is one of the promising technologies for minor actinides (MA; Am and Cm) recovery from high level liquid waste. Some types of solid adsorbents with extractants are used for the separation process, and they include consequently some organic species such as extractants to get an excellent separation performance. Therefore, the degradation behavior of the organic species in the adsorbents under radiation exposure is greatly important to discuss the safety and durability of the adsorbent. In this study, -ray irradiation experiments on TODGA/SiO-P adsorbent were carried out to investigate the degradation products from radiolysis of the adsorbent. The degradated organic species eluted from the adsorbent and those remaining inside the adsorbent were thoroughly identified by GC/MS, FT-IR and NMR analyses. Some species which suspected as hydrolysis products of TODGA were mainly detected. Since some radicals such as H or OH are generated by the -ray irradiation on water molecules, it was discussed that the radicals products from radiolysis of HNO solution are related to the degradation reaction the extractants.