Flowsheets for the Validation of the Reference AmSEL System

¹ CEA, DES, ISEC, DMRC, Univ. Montpellier, Marcoule, 30207 Bagnols-sur-Cèze Cedex, France
² Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institute of Fusion Energy and Nuclear Waste Management (IFN) - Nuclear Waste Management (IFN-2), 52428 Jülich, Germany
³ Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute for Nuclear Waste Disposal (INE), 76021 Karlsruhe, Germany

^* Corresponding author

Published online: 31 January 2025

Abstract

Recycling americium (Am) from spent nuclear fuels is an important option considered for the future nuclear fuel cycle as americium is the main contributor to the long-term radiotoxicity and heat power of the ultimate waste. The AmSEL flowsheet aims at recovering and purifying americium from a PUREX raffinate. This separation can be achieved by co-extracting lanthanide(III) (Ln) and actinide(III) cations (Am(III) and Cm(III)) into an organic phase containing the TODGA extractant (N,N,N’,N’-tetraoctyl diglycolamide), and then stripping Am(III) selectively towards curium and lanthanides. The water-soluble ligand SO₃-Ph-BTBP (6,6′-bis(5,6-dialkyl-1,2,4-triazin-3-yl)-2,2′-bipyridine) is used to selectively strip Am from the loaded organic phase. The objective of this work is to design a flowsheet for the Am stripping and Cm re-extraction steps to recover americium selectively from Cm and Ln, with TODGA as extractant and SO₃-Ph-BTBP as complexing reagent. The test was implemented in August 2023 at FZ Jülich with trace amounts of americium and curium.