Recovery of plutonium from assorted laboratory wastes

Almost quantitative recovery of plutonium from assorted non-recoverable aqueous acidic and organic waste solutions originating from solvent extraction studies and synthesis of solid plutonium compounds has been achieved by using combined solvent extraction and extraction chromatographic techniques. During solvent extraction a mixture of 0.2M CMPO + 1.2M TBP in dodecane was used as the extractant while in extraction chromatography a small column of CMPO adsorbed on Chromosorb-102 (CAC) was utilised. The activities could finally be recovered from the loaded organic phase as well as the CAC column. The effluent after the combined operation was almost alpha-free. About 3 g of plutonium was recovered from about 19 litres of different wastes.