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Uranium Extraction from Waste Streams of ZPP Plant

Azhdeh, Sahar | 2017

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  1. Type of Document: M.Sc. Thesis
  2. Language: Farsi
  3. Document No: 49670 (46)
  4. University: Sharif University of Technology
  5. Department: Energy Engineering
  6. Advisor(s): Samadfam, Mohamad; Farhadi, Amir Hossein
  7. Abstract:
  8. Uranium recovery from wastes produced in every stage of nuclear fuel cycle is very important from both the economic and environmental points of view. Zircon, zirconium-containing ore that is the input feed to Zirconium sponge production factories, contains considerable amounts of uranium compounds. The majority of this uranium will enter to the different waste streams of the plant. In this study, by analyzing the waste streams of the Zirconium Production Plant (ZPP) located at Isfahan, Iran, total mass balance of uranium in waste streams was identified. It was concluded that bottom residuals at furnaces of the chlorination unit is the primary uranium-containing waste stream. The preliminary leaching experiments with acidic, alkaline, and water solvents showed that nitric acid is the most suitable solvent for extraction of uranium from this waste stream. The optimum condition for uranium leaching process by nitric acid, obtained by additional tests as: temperature - , nitric acid concentration - M, stirring time - h and liquid to solid ratio - . The uranium leach liquor was concentrated by precipitation method. The uranium precipitate contains considerable amount of zirconium impurities. In order to remove the zirconium impurities, the precipitates were re-dissolved in 4M nitric acid and the uranium was recovered by a liquid-liquid extraction process (with TBP extractant in organic phase). In single-stage extraction test, uranium and zirconium were extracted implying that an acceptable level of purification can be achieved by the multiple-stage extraction process
  9. Keywords:
  10. Liquid-Liquid Extraction ; Waste ; Extraction ; Waste Management ; Uranium Recovery ; Leaching ; Uranium Separation

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