Jong-Goo Kim

Separating Ag, B, Cd, Dy, Eu, and Sm in a Gd matrix using 2-ethylhexyl phosphonic acid mono-2-ethylhexyl ester extraction chromatography for ICP-AES analysis

The separation procedure for Ag, B, Cd, Dy, Eu and Sm as impurities in Gd matrix using ICP-AES technique with an extraction chromatographic column has been developed. The spectral interference of the Gd matrix on the elements was eliminated using a chromatography technique with 2-ethylhexyl phosphonic acid mono-2-ethylhexyl ester (PC-88A) as the mobile phase and XAD-16 resin as the stationary phase. Ag(+), B(4)O(7)(2-), and Cd(2+) were eluted with 0.1M HNO(3), while rare earth ions were not. The best eluent for separating Eu and Sm in the Gd matrix was 0.3M HNO(3). The limit of quantitation for these elements was 0.6-3.0ng mL(-1). The recovery of Ag, B, and Cd was 90-104% using 0.1M HNO(3) as the eluent, while that of Eu, Gd, and Sm ranged from 100 to 102% with 0.3M HNO(3). Dy was recovered quantitatively with 4M HNO(3). The relative standard deviation of the methods for a set of three replicates was between 1.0 and 15.4% for the synthetic and standard Gd solutions. The proposed separation procedure was used to measure Ag, B, Cd, Dy, Eu, and Sm in a standard Gd solution.

Constituent analysis of metal and metal oxide in reduced SIMFuel using bromine-ethyl acetate

We demonstrated that bromine in ethyl acetate can selectively separate metallic contents in lanthanide metal-oxide mixtures for analysis, which had been validated for uranium. This Br2-EtOAc dissolution method was applied to determine the constituents of metal and metal oxide in SIMFuel that was electrochemically reduced from oxide fuel in the molten salt. Compared with the analysis results obtained after dissolving the fuel in an acid solution, we concluded that the Br2-EtOAc method can be applied to uranium and rare earths but not to noble metals for the reduction yield determination.