The Radiolytic and Thermal Stability of Diamides of Dipicolinic Acid

Abstract

The thermal and radiolytical stabilities of three isomers of N,N′-diethyl-N,N′-ditolyl-dipicolinamide (EtTDPA) were investigated. Radiolysis was performed at doses up to 125 kGy and thermogravimetric analysis was performed at temperatures of up to 450°C. Infrared data showed increasing amounts of aromatic nitration by nitric acid correlating to larger doses. However, gamma ray doses of up to 125 kGy did not cause any significant effects in separation performance with the studied extraction mixtures containing americium or europium within the studied range. The highest separation factor between americium and europium was seen using the meta isomer with an average value of 4.1 across all doses applied in this work.

Keywords:

• diamides
• dipicolinic acid
• extraction
• radiolysis
• UNEX

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This research work was performed at TRUELAB at Oregon State University, and funded by LDRD INL subaward NL130A.