Selective Pd separation from simulated radioactive liquid waste by precipitation using xenon lamp irradiation for a simplified procedure

キセノンランプを用いた模擬放射性廃液からのパラジウム沈殿の選択的分離

蓬田 匠   ; 佐伯 盛久*; 森井 志織  ; 大場 弘則*  ; 北辻 章浩  

Yomogida, Takumi; Saeki, Morihisa*; Morii, Shiori; Oba, Hironori*; Kitatsuji, Yoshihiro

高レベル放射性廃液(HLLW)中に含まれる長寿命核種であるPdの存在量を知ることは、HLLWの処分安全評価の観点から重要である。我々は、HLLW等に含まれるPdの定量のために、キセノンランプの光照射による簡易で単ステップのPd沈殿分離法を開発した。14元素を含む模擬HLLW試料に、キセノンランプによる光照射を行い、遠心分離によって生成したPd沈殿を回収した。光照射時の照射時間とエタノール濃度の最適化を行った結果、模擬HLLWからのPd回収率は50%に達し、他の13元素は99.5%以上除去された。Pd沈殿中には、HLLW中での主要な放射能源(Sr, Cs, Ba)や、Pdの定量分析の際に測定妨害となる元素(Zr, Ru)が含まれておらず、開発した分離法は実際のHLLWなどへ適用可能であることが示された。

In this study, we developed a simple and one-step Pd separation technique based on photoreduction with Xe lamp irradiation for the determination of Pd in highly radioactive samples. A simulated high-level radioactive liquid wastes (HLLW) solution, which consists of 14 major elements (Rb, Sr, Zr, Mo, Ru, Rh, Pd, Cs, Ba, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm) in a 3 mol L HNO solution, was used to evaluate the separation performance. The Pd precipitate were formed by Xe lamp irradiation and recovered by centrifugation. The results showed that the recovery of Pd from a simulated HLLW solution depend on the irradiation time and concentration of ethanol. By optimizing the conditions at photo irradiation, the Pd recovery from the simulated HLLW solution reached up to 50 %, while 99.5 % of the other 13 elements were separated. The Pd precipitate could be separated from the elements that are the main source of radioactivity (Sr, Cs, and Ba) and the source of spectral interference for the determination of Pd (Zr, and Ru). These results indicate that selective separation of Pd is achieved with the proposed method, showing the applicability of the proposed separation technique to HLLW samples.