Improved recovery and purification of plutonium at Los Alamos using macroporous anion exchange resin

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Abstract
For almost 30 years, Los Alamos National Laboratory has used anion exchange in nitric acid as the major aqueous process or the recovery and purification of plutonium. One of the few disadvantages of this system is the particularly slow rate at which the anionic nitrato complex of Pu(IV) equilibrates with the resin. The Nuclear Materials Process Technology Group at Los Alamos recently completed an ion exchange development program that focused on improving the slow sorption kinetics that limits this process. A comprehensive investigation of modern anion exchange resins identified porosity and bead size as the properties that most influence plutonium sorption kinetics. Our study found that small beads of macroporous resin produced a dramatic increase in plutonium process efficiency. The Rocky Flats Plant has already adopted this improved ion exchange technology, and it currently is being evaluated for use in other DOE plutonium-processing facilities.

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