Novel Separation of Actinides

Mariella, R

关键词: ACTINIDES;    CHEMICAL PROPERTIES;    DEBYE LENGTH;    DRUGS;    ION EXCHANGE;    ION MOBILITY;    ISOTACHOPHORESIS;    NATIONAL SECURITY;    NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS;    PROLIFERATION;    PURIFICATION;    SOLVENTS;   

DOI  :  10.2172/1021063
RP-ID  :  LLNL-TR-471631
PID  :  OSTI ID: 1021063
Others  :  TRN: US201117%%24

学科分类：工程和技术（综合）

美国|英语

来源: SciTech Connect

【 摘 要 】

The separation of actinides and other elements of interest for nuclear forensics and threat reduction is currently performed using decades-old chemistries and ion-exchange columns. We propose to determine the technical feasibility of a novel method for separating actinide ions in solution. This method is based upon isotachophoresis (ITP), which has been applied in the purification of pharmaceuticals and other biochemical applications. This technique has the potential to separate inorganic ions more effectively than existing methods, which is key to analyzing very small samples. We will perform a quantitative assessment of the effectiveness of specific isotachophoretic approaches including predicting the physical and chemical properties, such as ion mobility, of inorganic ions under specific solvent conditions using a combination of ab initio calculations and semi-empirical methods. We expect to obtain a thorough understanding of the analytical systems parameters under which ITP is most effective for the separation of inorganic samples, including the influence of the double layer surrounding actinide ions, the Debye length for different ions and ion complexes, and Debye-Hueckel limits. Inorganic separations are key to nuclear forensics for countering terrorism and nuclear proliferation. If found to be feasible and potentially superior to currently used separation approaches, ITP could provide the conceptual basis for an improved means to separate samples of nuclear explosion debris for nuclear forensic analysis, in support of the Laboratory's missions in homeland and national security.