Catalytic destruction of oxalate in the supernatant stream generated during plutonium reconversion process

Abstract

Plutonium oxalate supernatant requires a treatment step for further recovery of the residual Pu. As the oxalate ion present in the solution poses problems during the recovery of Pu, it needs to be destroyed. In the present work, Mn2+ based catalytic destruction of oxalate ion was studied in detail, as it could minimize the generation of secondary radioactive waste compared to the conventional process. The effect of various parameters, namely concentrations of HNO3, catalyst, oxalic acid and effect of the metal ion has been studied. Moreover, the robustness of the catalytic destruction method along with the kinetics of oxalate destruction reaction has been investigated. The process was also demonstrated with Pu supernatant generated from CORAL at 1 L scale.