Sorption of uranium on freshly prepared hydrous titanium oxide and its utilization in determination of U-236 using accelerator mass spectrometry

Abstract

The determination of U-236 with accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) requires efficient separation methods with high concentration factors. The article proposes an alternative method of uranium separation from aqueous solutions to commonly used iron co-precipitation. This "homogeneous precipitation" is based on unique properties of fresh hydrous titanium oxide, prepared by hydrolysis of its organic precursor-tetra-n-butylorthotitanate-directly in the aqueous sample solution. Besides high uranium uptake, the results shows very promising properties of this uranium-titanium oxide precipitate for U-236-AMS measurements providing up to 4 times higher negative ion yield comparing with common uranium oxide matrix.