Commissariat a L'energie Atomique

Christine Cuillerdier

Claude Musikas

Pierre Hoel

Laurence Nigond

Process for the selective extraction (III) actinides by means of amides

The invention relates to a process for separating iron and/or zirconium from the actinides and/or lanthanides present in an aqueous acid solution by means of a propane diamide. According to the invention, use is made of a pentasubstituted propane diamide of formula: ##STR1## in which R.sup.1, R.sup.2 and R.sup.3, which can be the same or different, are alkyl radicals, which can have 1 or 2 oxygen atoms in their chain. To maintain the iron in aqueous solution, a choice is made of an appropriate propane diamide of formula (I) with R.sup.3 representing a C.sub.12 to C.sub.25 alkyl in order to have different extraction kinetics between Fe and the actinides or lanthanides, or an additive is added to the aqueous solution, e.g. oxalic acid or sodium nitrate.

Growing community of inventors

Paris, France

Christine Cuillerdier