Commissariat a L'energie Atomique

Laurence Nigond

Claude Musikas

Pierre Hoel

Christine Cuillerdier

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.

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Fontenay awe Roses, France

Laurence Nigond