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]