Crud in Solvent Washing Process for Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing

In a solvent washing process for nuclear fuel reprocessing, one of the important problems is a formation of stable emulsions between organic and aqueous phases. These emulsions are called interfacial “crud”. Crud is defined as an emulsion stabilized by finely dispersed solids. These stable emulsions lead to decreased washing efficiency, lower phase separation, disturbance of the interfacial control at the settler of the extractor, and so on. Cruds formed by precipitates of Zr and tributyl phosphate (TBP) degradation products, such as di-n-butyl phosphate (HDBP), mono-n-butyl phosphate (H2MBP), and phosphoric acid (H3P04) are studied by experiments using a sodium carbonate solution as a washing reagent. Experimental results show that not only pH value of the washing reagent, but also phosphate and zirconium mole ratio (P/Zr) are important in crud formation. Moreover, it is shown that the complex of Zr and HDBP, or Zr and H2MBP has a significant role in stabilizing emulsions. However, the complex of Zr and H3P04 is not effective in stabilizing cruds.