Development of Pu/Np separation on TEVA resin for rapid purification of key radionuclides from uranium fission samples

Analysis of samples containing fission products and actinides is relevant in a variety of fields including nuclear reactor safeguards, nuclear fuel cycle analyses, and nuclear forensics. A multi-column, rapid separation method is under development to isolate actinides for radiometric analysis for these samples. A column-based Pu/Np separation on TEVA resin has been developed here utilizing two different reducing agents, hydroquinone and hydroiodic acid. These methods yielded up to 92(3)% for Pu and 88(4)% for Np with hydroquinone and a clean, baseline separation with hydroiodic acid. These separation methods will enable rapid quantification of Pu and Np isotopics by alpha spectrometry.