Development and demonstration of a new SANEX Partitioning Process for selective actinide(III)/lanthanide(III) separation using a mixture of CyMe4BTBP and TODGA

Within the framework of the European collaborative project ACSEPT, a new SANEX partitioning process was developed at Forschungszentrum Julich for the separation of the trivalent minor actinides americium, curium and californium from lanthanide fission products in spent nuclear fuels. The development is based on batch solvent extraction studies, single-centrifugal contactor tests and on flow-sheet design by computer code calculations. The used solvent is composed of 6,6'-bis(5,5,8,8-tetramethyl-5,6,7,8-tetrahydrobenzo[1,2-4]trizazin-3-yl)-[2,2']-bipyridine (CyMe4BTBP) and N,N,N',N'-tetraoctyldiglycolamide (TODGA) dissolved in noctanol. A spiked continuous counter-current test was carried out in miniature centrifugal contactors with the aid of a 20-stage flow-sheet consisting of 12 extraction, 4 scrubbing and 4 stripping stages. A product fraction containing more than 99.9% of the trivalent actinides Am(III), Cm(III) and Cf(III) was obtained. High product/feed decontamination factors > 1000 were achieved for these actinides. The trivalent lanthanides were directed to the raffinate of the process with the actinide (III) product stream being contaminated with less than 0.5 mass-% of the initial lanthanides.