The paper describes the solvent extraction of trace thorium from hydrochloric acid media by1-phenyl-3-methyl-4-benzoyl-5-pyrazolone (PMBP) using a radioactive tracer technique. The percent extraction ofthorium was studied as a function of acidity, PMBP concentration and equilibrium time. The back-extraction behaviorof thorium from the organic phase was also tested. Separation of thorium was performed from fission products pro-duced in 14 MeV neutron bombardment of natural uranium by employing the PMBP extraction procedure. Thegamma-ray spectra of the separated thorium fractions show that thorium can be separated from most of fission prod-ucts and a large amount of uranium.
YANG Wei-Fan, YUAN Shuang-Gui, XU Yan-Bing, XIAO Yong-Hou, XIONG Bing (Institute of Modern Physics, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000)
