Preparation of americium metals by electrolysis of the aqueous solutions

通过电化学法制备的汞齐水溶液的热分解，成功地生产了铀。铀的汞齐速率近似为一级化学反应，汞齐在1250℃真空中加热。通过气体和金属杂质分析，铀金属的纯度约为4N。该金属制备工艺已成功地应用于Ne、La、Ce和钛的金属制备，并已应用于金属Am的制备。准备工作是在JEARI的WASTEF设施中进行的。将20 mg的氧化物溶解在盐酸溶液中。用汞池电极实现了汞在水溶液中的汞齐。然后，将合成的汞齐移入炉中进行热分解，用X射线衍射仪对热分解产物进行分析。并对产物进行了碳、氧、氮分析。结果表明，在热分解产物中没有金属Am的存在。经X-射线衍射法和元素分析确证了产物为氧化物。

Uranium has been produced successfully by the thermal decomposition of electrochemically prepared amalgams from the aqueous solutions. The amalgamation rate of uranium was approximately regarded as a first-order chemical reaction and the amalgam was heated at 1250℃ in vacuum. The purity of uranium metals were estimated to be about 4N by the gaseous and metallic impurity analysis.The procedure for metal preparation had been successfully applied to metal preparations of neptunium, lanthanum, cerium and titanium.The procedure has been applied to preparation of americium metal. The preparation was carried out in the facility of WASTEF in JEARI. The oxide of 20mg was dissolved in the hydrochloric acid solution. The amalgamation of americium in aqueous solution was carried out using the mercury pool electrode. And then, the synthesized americium amalgam was transferred into the furnace for thermal decomposition of the amalgam.The products of thermal decomposition were analyzed by the X-ray diffraction. And also the carbon, oxygen and nitrogen analysis of the products were carried out. As the results, americium metal was not conformed in the thermal decomposition products. The product was identified to be the oxide from X-ray diffraction and elementally analysis.