Reduction of radioactive elements in molybdenum trioxide powder by sublimation method and its technical performance

Abstract

We studied the effectiveness of the purification of molybdenum trioxide (MoO3) powder with the sublimation method. To utilize the method, we have designed sublimation apparatus to purify the powder and annealing apparatus to collect the fine powder, followed by the wet chemistry method. As part of purification R&D, MoO3 powder was purified using a low vacuum sublimation method to remove radioactive elements such as Ra, Th, U, etc. The purification was performed at different temperatures to determine the optimum conditions for high decontamination factors and high recovery efficiencies. After applying the sublimation method, the powder was dissolved in aqueous ammonia; recrystallized to obtain polyammonium molybdate (PAM); and annealed to acquire MoO3 fine powder. The phase of MoO3 powder was studied by using X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques. The effectiveness of the purification techniques was checked with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) measurements and the radioactivity from Ra, Th, and U were measured with high purity germanium (HPGe) detectors at Yangyang underground laboratory in Korea. The purified MoO3 powder was used by the AMoRE (Advanced Mo-based Rare process Experiment) collaboration to grow scintillating crystals.