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Selection of the treatment method for the West Valley alkaline supernatant

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:5026905

As part of the West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP), th PUREX supernatant stored in Tank 8d-2 will be partially decontaminated before encapsulation in the final glass form. This report discusses selection of a method for removing Cs-137, the major radioactive ion in the supernatant. Methods considered were: (1) electrodialysis; (2) hyperfiltration; (3) precipitation with ferrocyanide, NaTPB, or PTA; (4) organic ion exchange using Cs-100 or a biologically derived media; (5) chelation using DeVoe/Holbein compostions; and (6) inorganic ion exchange using Durasil, natural zeolities, IE-95 or IE-96 media. Several different methods of using inorganic ion exchange media were also reviewed including (1) four columns with elution, and (2) two, three, or four columns without elution. After the careful evaluation of experimental data with all process constraints taken into account, the inorganic exchange media IE-96 (Linde Ionsiv IE-96 synthetic zeolite) was chosen for WVDP cesium recovery. IE-96 was chosen for the following reasons: high sorption rate, a decontamination factor (DF) over 1000, excellent exchange capacity at WVDP conditions, compatability with the glass formers used for borosilicate glass in direct melter feed applications, and a history of successful application in radio chemical seperation for waste streams. 34 refs., 29 figs., 27 tabs.

Research Organization:
West Valley Nuclear Services Co., Inc., West Valley, NY (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
AC07-81NE44139
OSTI ID:
5026905
Report Number(s):
DOE/NE/44139-25; ON: DE88008936
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English