Mathematical modeling of the co-decontamination process in PUREX.

A mathematical model of co-decontamination process (1A) containing U(VI), Pu(IV), Zr(IV), and Ru(III) was developed with a high-performance Iteration of Extraction Equilibrium (ITEE) algorithm. ITEE algorithm not only guarantees the positive solution set but also possesses better computational efficiency than L-BFGS-B and fsolve algorithms. This model was used to study the effects of the HNO3 concentration and the location of the feed stage on the extraction and decontamination efficiencies. The results show HNO3 is beneficial to the extraction of U, Pu, and Zr. More extraction stages boost the extraction of U and Pu into the organic phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]