Abstract:
A computer program was developed to simulate technetium scrubbing section (TcS) in Purex process based on the theory of cascade extraction. The program can simulate the steady-state behavior of HNO
3, U, Pu and Tc in TcS. The reliability of the program was verified by cascade extraction experiment, the relative error between calculation value and experiment value was 10% more or less except few spots. The technical parameters of TcS were analyzed by this program. It is found that the decontamination factor (DF(Tc/U)) in TcS is remarkably affected by the overall consumption (the product of molarity and volume flux) of HNO
3, DF(Tc/U) is increase with the increase of the over consumption of HNO
3. Changing the combination of HNO
3 concentration and flow ratio can not remarkably improve the DF(Tc/U) in TcS if the overall consumption of HNO
3 is fixed. An inflection point exists when DF(Tc/U) changed with HNO
3 contraction, the optimum combination of HNO
3 concentration and flow ratio is given by this point.