Porous metal filter collects radioactive strontium in hot cell operation
The separation of a purified inorganic salt from a batch of slurry containing a high level radionuclide presented some unusual requirements at Rockwell Hanford's fission products production facility in Richland, WA. The product, radioactive strontium, is encapsulated as purified strontium fluoride after the recovered precipitate is sintered in a furnace to drive off all volatiles. The separation process required a filter to collect the finely divided strontium fluoride particles. The filter is required to withstand temperatures of 300-400/sup 0/C and maintain chemical stability in high levels of radioactivity. The filter also has to be sturdy enough to be manageable by a remote master/slave electromechanical manipulator in a hot cell. In addition, the filter must withstand a corrosive environment where the potential of traces of hydrofluoric acid exists. A uniformly permeable filter medium with low pressure drop and high particulate removal efficiency was necessary to ensure total recovery and clean filtrate. Strontium fluoride is precipitated batchwise from a reaction between sodium fluoride and strontium nitrate. After chemical adjustments are completed, the whole batch is filtered through a bank of four vacuum filters which contain a porous metal filter medium. Cylinders of sintered porous stainless steel were chosen as the filter medium because they were adaptable to the handling requirements and met the stringent separation criteria. The overall reaction-to-encapsulation operation at Rockwell Hanford has been developed to achieve better than 99% recovery of the strontium. The consistent performance of the porous metal cartridge filter medium has played an important part in maintaining this high recovery.
- Research Organization:
- Rockwell Hanford Operations, Richland, WA
- OSTI ID:
- 5631053
- Journal Information:
- Chem. Process. (Chicago); (United States), Journal Name: Chem. Process. (Chicago); (United States); ISSN CHPCA
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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ALKALINE EARTH ISOTOPES
ALKALINE EARTH METAL COMPOUNDS
ALLOYS
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CHROMIUM ALLOYS
CORROSION RESISTANCE
CORROSION RESISTANT ALLOYS
DISPERSIONS
ENCAPSULATION
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
FABRICATION
FILTERS
FILTRATION
FISSION PRODUCTS
FLUORIDES
FLUORINE COMPOUNDS
HALIDES
HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
HIGH TEMPERATURE
INTERMEDIATE MASS NUCLEI
IRON ALLOYS
IRON BASE ALLOYS
ISOTOPES
MATERIALS
MATTER
MIXTURES
NUCLEI
PERFORMANCE
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOISOTOPES
REMOTE HANDLING
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SINTERING
SLURRIES
STAINLESS STEELS
STEELS
STRONTIUM 90
STRONTIUM COMPOUNDS
STRONTIUM FLUORIDES
STRONTIUM ISOTOPES
SUSPENSIONS
VOLATILE MATTER
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES