Studies on processes for recovering uranium from sediment wastes

Sediment wastes generated from nuclear facilities often contain uranium and iron. From the viewpoint of reduction of environmental impact, separation of uranium from sediment wastes has been required. Wet processes based on precipitation of uranyl oxalate in inorganic acids have been investigated as methods for recovering uranium from sediment wastes containing iron and aluminum. It was found that 98.6% of uranium in H2SO4 dissolving such wastes can be selectively recovered by using oxalic acid with N-cyclohexyl-2-pyrrolidone (NCP).