Studies of the features of the sorption of an europium by natural and synthetic zeolites for using it in the nuclear energy

Abstract

A technique of quantitative determination of europium by proton-induced X-ray emission (PIXE) using of 1.6 MeV energy and measurement of the characteristic europium Lα-shell X-rays is developed. The possibility of using carbon substrates for the preparation of europium targets to be subjected to 1.6 MeV proton irradiat ion was studied. A linear dependence of the quantitative content and the emission intensity of the Lα-shell of europium is obtained. The use of europium as a natural analogue was applied to the study of the americium sorption from aqueous solutions by natural and synthetic zeolites under static conditions. It has been established that the europium sorption coefficient (Ks) for clinoptilolite is 72.7% that is twice as high the Ks for synthetic zeolites NaA (Ks – 36.8%) and NaX (Ks – 25.2%). The effect of competing sodium ions on europium sorption by zeolites has been studied.