Washing of uranyl nitrate hexahydrate crystals with nitric acid aqueous solution to improve crystal quality

Nakahara, Masaumi; Nakajima, Yasuo  ; Koizumi, Tsutomu

In the crystal washing experiment using the uranyl nitrate solution containing Ce, the Ce in the mother liquor was attached to the surface of the uranyl nitrate hexahydrate crystals and tend to be removed by the washing operation with low HNO concentration washing solution. In the crystallization experiments using the dissolver solution of irradiated fast reactor core fuel, the decontamination factors of liquid impurities were improved by crystal washing. On the other hand, the decontamination factors of solid impurities decreased with several washings because uranyl nitrate hexahydrate is more soluble than the solid impurities in an HNO solution.