Combination of optical spectroscopy and chemometric techniques—a possible way for on-line monitoring of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) reprocessing

UV-Vis spectroscopic measurements were performed in model mixtures simulating solutions obtained in the course of PUREX spent nuclear fuel reprocessing. Mixtures contained constant concentrations of nitric acid and uranium with varied content of neptunium and plutonium. Spectral data were processed with classical chemometric technique — PLS regression. This approach has shown significant improvement in analytical precision of actinides determination compared to standard univariate data processing. The combination of spectroscopic measurements with chemometric data processing shows good promise for the development of on-line spectroscopic techniques for SNF reprocessing monitoring.