Extraction behaviors of minor actinides and rare earth elements with four NTA amide extractants

Suzuki, Hideya*; Nakamura, Satoshi  ; Emori, Tatsuya; Kurosawa, Tatsuya*; Shibata, Mitsunobu*; Kawasaki, Tomohiro*; Ban, Yasutoshi  

The Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) has been studying partitioning and transmutation systems (P&T). In P&T, JAEA proposed a novel hydrometallurgical process called "SELECT (Solvent Extraction from Liquid waste using Extractants of CHON-type for Transmutation) process". In the SELECT process, HexaOctyl NitriloTriacetAmide (HONTA) with six -octyl side chains is used for the mutual separation of minor actinides (MA) and rare earth elements (RE). In the present study, extraction tests were carried out with HONTA and three nitrilotriacetamides (NTA amides) with different side chains. The results show that the different side chains of NTA amides affect the extraction behaviors of MA and RE.