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

Ion exchange decontamination of alkaline solutions of nuclear waste

Conference ·
OSTI ID:7311601

An ion exchange process was developed to remove /sup 137/Cs, /sup 90/Sr, and plutonium from alkaline solutions of nuclear waste. This waste has accumulated from greater than 20 years of reprocessing nuclear fuels and materials for defense programs at the Savannah River Plant and consists of approximately 20 million gallons of alkaline salt and solutions. In development tests, 100-liter quantities of liquid waste were decontaminated. The separated /sup 137/Cs, /sup 90/Sr, and plutonium were concentrated by a factor of 1500 and immobilized by adsorption onto zeolite. Residual activity, excluding /sup 106/Ru, in decontaminated salt cake will be about 6 nCi/g. /sup 106/Ru will decay to less than 6 nCi/g after the salt has been stored twelve years.

Research Organization:
Du Pont de Nemours (E.I.) and Co., Aiken, SC (USA). Savannah River Lab.
DOE Contract Number:
E(07-2)-1
OSTI ID:
7311601
Report Number(s):
DP-MS-76-69; CONF-770301-6
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English