Study of the U/Am separation with supported calix[6]arene in the aim of urinary actinides analysis

The aim of this work is to propose an alternative radiochemical procedure for the analysis of U, Pu and Am in urine, which is one of the controls used to monitor workers exposed to risk of internal contamination with actinides. Previous studies have demonstrated the extraction efficiency of these molecules towards uranium and plutonium, the affinity of calix[6]arenes bearing hydroxamic acid groups (LHH3) and carboxylic groups (LCH3) towards americium were studied in this paper by solvent extraction. The results showed that LHH3 and LCH3 have a very good affinity for americium and enhance the possibility of separating Pu from U and Am. Experiments were performed to perfect the separation of U/Am. The immobilisation of these calixarenes on polymer supports was also investigated for routine applications. Supported calixarenes LCH3 and LHH3 presented the same performances as those obtained in a liquid-liquid system and, hence, are a promising system for the analysis of actinides. These molecules and their uses have been protected (patent pending).