skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Removal of 137-Cs from Dissolved Hanford Tank Saltcake by Treatment with IE-911

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/15010657· OSTI ID:15010657

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Richland Operations Office plans to accelerate the cleanup of the Hanford Site. Testing new technology for the accelerated cleanup will require dissolved saltcake from single-shell tanks. However, the 137Cs will need to be removed from the saltcake to alleviate radiation hazards. A saltcake composite constructed from archived samples from Hanford Site single-shell tanks 241-S-101, 241-S-109, 241-S-110, 241-S-111, 241-U-106, and 241-U-109 was dissolved in water, adjusted to 5 M Na, and transferred from the 222-S Laboratory to the Radiochemical Processing Laboratory (RPL). At the RPL, the approximately 5.5 liters of solution was passed through a 0.2-micron polyethersulfone filter, collected, and homogenized. The filtered solution then was passed through an ion exchange column containing approximately 150 mL IONSIV® IE-911, an engineered form of crystalline silicotitanate available from UOP, at approximately 200 mL/hour in a continuous operation until all of the feed solution had been run through the column. An analysis of the 137Cs concentrations in the initial feed solution and combined column effluent indicates that > 99.999 percent of the Cs in the feed solution was removed by this operation. PNNR

Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
15010657
Report Number(s):
PNNL-14250 Rev 1; 830403000
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English