Hydroxylamine derivative in purex process. VI. Study on the partition of uranium/neptunium and uranium/plutonium with N,N-diethylhydroxylamine in thepurification cycle of uranium contactor

Cascade extraction of uranium and cascade extraction-separation of uranium/ neptunium and uranium/plutonium with 6 extraction stages and 6 stripping st ages have been studied in the presence of N,N-diethylhydroxylamine (abbrevi ated as DEHAN) in nitric acid medium according to the experimental conditio ns of the purification cycle of uranium (referred to as contactor 2D) of th e second cycle of the Purex Process. The percent recovery and material bala nce of U(VI) were found to be 99.997% and 101.5%, respectively. The deconta mination factors and material balances of neptunium and plutonium from uran ium were found to be 32.4, 25.3 and 102.5%, 105.7%, respectively. It sugges ts that the simultaneous separation of neptunium and plutonium from uranium is technically feasible for contactor 2D using N,N-diethylhydroxylamine as a salt-free reductant.