(264d) In-Line Near Real Time Monitoring of Fluid Streams in Separation Processes for Used Nuclear Fuel

Applying spectroscopic tools for monitoring chemical processes has been utilized in various industries owing to its rapid and non-destructively analysis for detecting chemical components and physical characteristic in a process stream. The general complexity of separation processes for used nuclear fuel, e.g., chemical speciation, temperature variations, and prominent process security and safety concerns, require a well-calibrated monitoring system to provide precise information of the process streams at real time without interference. Multivariate analysis accompanied with spectral measurements is a powerful statistic tool that can be used to monitor this complex chemical system. In this work, chemometric models that respond to the chemical components in the samples were calibrated and validated to establish an inline near real time monitoring system. The models show good prediction accuracy using partial least square regression analysis on the spectral data obtained from NIR and UV/Vis spectroscopies. The models were tested on an extraction process using a single stage centrifugal contactor in our laboratory to determine the performance of an inline near real time monitoring system for a solvent extraction process representative of used nuclear fuel separation processes. We present here the results from the online, near real-time monitoring of a simplified PUREX process using off-the-shelf components.