Upgrading of the Crude Yellow Cake to a Highly Purified Form using Tris(2-ethylhexyl) Phosphate in Presence of EDTA or CDTA

Upgrading crude yellow cake was done by 0.05 M Tris 2-ethylhexyl Phosphate / kerosene from 5 M nitrate solution. More than 98 % of uranium extracted after 5 stages of contact, shaking time 5 minutes and volume phase ratio 1/1. Uranium stripping efficiency reached 99 % using distilled H2O, 10 minutes shaking time, (O/A) ratio 4/1 and three stripping stages. The purity of the produced cakes was enhanced by the addition of EDTA or CDTA. The produced cake using TEHP followed by EDTA addition to the stripping solution before uranium precipitation step was the most preferable cake with lower gangues.