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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Actinide removal from waste solutions by ferrite treatment

Conference ·
OSTI ID:6494557
In laboratory tests, ferrite treatment was effective in removing actinides from Rocky Flats process waste. Plutonium concentrations were consistently lowered from over 10/sup -4/ g/l to the 10/sup -7/ to 10/sup -8/ g/l range. At the same time, 3.2 to 3.6 g/l solids were produced as compared to 15.7 g/1 observed over a recent 16-month period for waste treatment by flocculant precipitation. Whereas ferrite treatment required only one treatment step, at least two treatment steps are needed for flocculant precipitation to achieve the same results. Greater loadings of ferrite in a cement matrix were obtained so that very significant weight and volume reduction in immobilized solid TRU waste were observed. In addition to its effectiveness in actinide removal, ferrite waste treatment has shown considerable versatility, which would facilitate its application to a variety of waste media. There are two treatment to be used in different chemical environments. Whereas the in situ method is affected by the presence of other metal ions, the preformed ferrite addition technique is much less sensitive to the chemistry of the waste medium. Because of their strongly magnetic nature, ferrite solids can be separated magnetically in addition to techniques such as filtration and centrifugation.
Research Organization:
Rockwell International Corp., Golden, CO (USA). Rocky Flats Plant
DOE Contract Number:
AC04-76DP03533
OSTI ID:
6494557
Report Number(s):
RFP-3492; CONF-830205-12; ON: DE83007536
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English