Miniaturizing and automation of free acidity measurements for uranium (VI)-HNO3 solutions: Development of a new sequential injection analysis for a sustainable radio-analytical chemistry

• Development of a miniaturized and automated free acidity measurement method for nuclear fuels.
• Method development and optimization of the SIA sequence based on numerical simulations.
• Large reduction of the sample volume (thousand-fold).
• Reduction of the nuclear waste production (forty-fold) and radiation exposure.

A miniaturized and automated approach for the determination of free acidity in solutions containing uranium (VI) is presented. The measurement technique is based on the concept of sequential injection analysis with on-line spectroscopic detection. The proposed methodology relies on the complexation and alkalimetric titration of nitric acid using a pH 5.6 sodium oxalate solution. The titration process is followed by UV/VIS detection at 650 nm thanks to addition of Congo red as universal pH indicator. Mixing sequence as well as method validity was investigated by numerical simulation. This new analytical design allows fast (2.3 min), reliable and accurate free acidity determination of low volume samples (10 µL) containing uranium/[H+] moles ratio of 1:3 with relative standard deviation of <7.0% (n=11). The linearity range of the free nitric acid measurement is excellent up to 2.77 mol L−1 with a correlation coefficient (R2) of 0.995. The method is specific, presence of actinide ions up to 0.54 mol L−1 does not interfere on the determination of free nitric acid. In addition to automation, the developed sequential injection analysis method greatly improves the standard off-line oxalate complexation and alkalimetric titration method by reducing thousand fold the required sample volume, forty times the nuclear waste per analysis as well as the analysis time by eight fold. These analytical parameters are important especially in nuclear-related applications to improve laboratory safety, personnel exposure to radioactive samples and to drastically reduce environmental impacts or analytical radioactive waste.

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