Decontamination of Savannah River Plant waste supernate. [Removal of Cs-137, Sr-90, and Pu from waste supernate]

Technical Report · Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1976

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/7138623· OSTI ID:7138623

Wiley, J R

Cesium-137, strontium-90, and plutonium were removed from 100-liter quantities of actual waste supernate by ion exchange in tests of the conceptual process for solidification of Savannah River Plant (SRP) radioactive waste. The supernate had been slurried with actual SRP sludges, and these sludges were separated from supernate by centrifugation and sand filtration. These steps simulated tank cleaning and isolating the insoluble waste sludge. Ion exchange reduced radioactivity in the supernate by a factor of 4 x 10/sup 5/ for /sup 137/Cs, 5 x 10/sup 3/ for /sup 90/Sr, and 300 for plutonium. These results were insensitive to flow rate over the range of rates studied. The process was monitoring with an in-line gamma detector. Salt cake made from the decontaminated supernate would contain about 6 nanocuries/gram from the combined activities of /sup 137/Cs, /sup 90/Sr, and plutonium. /sup 106/Ru was not removed; it will decay to a level below that of other nuclides in decontaminated salt stored for 12 years. /sup 137/Cs, /sup 90/Sr, and plutonium were eluted from the ion exchange columns, concentrated by evaporation of the eluate, and sorbed onto zeolite. This concentrated the radioactivity removed from supernate by a factor of 1500. Carrier precipitation was tested for removing /sup 90/Sr from supernate, but was not effective.

• Research Organization: Du Pont de Nemours (E.I.) and Co., Aiken, SC (United States). Savannah River Lab.
• DOE Contract Number: E(07-2)-1
• OSTI ID: 7138623
• Report Number(s): DP-1436; TRN: 77-001913
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
CESIUM 137
ION EXCHANGE
PLUTONIUM
RADIOACTIVE WASTE PROCESSING
STRONTIUM 90
ADSORPTION
EVAPORATION
FLUID FLOW
GAMMA DETECTION
ON-LINE MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS
PRECIPITATION
RUTHENIUM 106
SAVANNAH RIVER PLANT
SLUDGES
SOLIDIFICATION
ACTINIDES
ALKALI METAL ISOTOPES
ALKALINE EARTH ISOTOPES
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CESIUM ISOTOPES
ELEMENTS
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
INTERMEDIATE MASS NUCLEI
ISOTOPES
MANAGEMENT
METALS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
ON-LINE SYSTEMS
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
PROCESSING
RADIATION DETECTION
RADIOISOTOPES
RUTHENIUM ISOTOPES
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SORPTION
STRONTIUM ISOTOPES
TRANSURANIUM ELEMENTS
US AEC
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
052001* - Nuclear Fuels- Waste Processing