Options for the Removal of Cesium and Strontium from Acidic Uranyl Sulfate Solutions from Molybdenum-99 Production: Part II The Effect of Sodium Carbonate Adjustment to pH 9 on Strontium Removal

Technical Report · Mon May 01 04:00:00 EDT 2023

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1985288· OSTI ID:1985288

Kyser, Edward A. ^[1]

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1. Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL), Aiken, SC (United States)

A small laboratory-scale column process aimed at removing fission products from prototypical acidic sulfate solution wastes from a prototypical Mo-99 recovery process has been operated in a radioactive materials hood at Savannah River National Laboratory. This equipment has been operated with realistic concentrations of uranium (0.4 wt % ²³⁵U), plutonium (²³⁹Pu), neptunium (²³⁷Np), non-radioactive surrogates of common fission products (including Cs and Sr) and two promising absorbents – AMP-PAN and CST R9120-B. The goal of this work was to demonstrate the removal and concentration of high specific activity isotopes which are expected to dominate the classification of the low-level waste from the production of ⁹⁹Mo. Both AMP-PAN and CST R9120-B are attractive absorbents for the removal of ¹³⁷Cs from an acidic sulfate waste stream. They do not provide a solution for the removal of ⁹⁰Sr from the acidic solutions. CST was shown to be useful at removing both Cs and Sr after adjustment of the acidic sulfate solution with sodium carbonate to pH 9. Limited removal of transuranic species and almost no removal of uranium was observed for CST R9120B absorbent. This could be important due to the relatively large amount of uranium expected to be present in such waste streams. The capacity of these absorbents for ¹³⁷Cs will likely be dependent on the Cs concentration in the solutions processed but loading in excess of 0.7 mg Cs per gram of CST absorbent while loading 0.14 mg Sr per gram of CST absorbent appears to be achievable from pH 9 carbonate solution.

• Research Organization: Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States); Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL), Aiken, SC (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Environmental Management (EM); USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation
• DOE Contract Number: 89303321CEM000080
• OSTI ID: 1985288
• Report Number(s): SRNL--STI-2023-00173
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
CST
Mo-99 Recovery
Titania
Uranyl Sulfate
Waste Classification
pH 9