Neptunium-plutonium separation on inorganic ion exchanger zirconium phosphosilicate

The conditions for sorption and elution of neptunium(IV) from nitric acid solutions on zirconiumphosphosilicate (ZPS) have been examined in batch and column experiments. Batch experiments have indicated that the fixation depends strongly on the acid concentration. The separation of Pu and Np can be performed on ZPS by a selective reduction of Pu(III) and Np(IV), respectively, with Fe(II) sulphamate in 0·35 M HNO 3 . Only Np(IV) is retained on the ZPS column and can be eluted with 8·0 M HNO 3 .