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

Abstract

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 formore » removing /sup 90/Sr from supernate, but was not effective.« less

Authors:
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Du Pont de Nemours (E.I.) and Co., Aiken, SC (United States). Savannah River Lab.
OSTI Identifier:
7138623
Report Number(s):
DP-1436
TRN: 77-001913
DOE Contract Number:  
E(07-2)-1
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
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

Citation Formats

Wiley, J R. Decontamination of Savannah River Plant waste supernate. [Removal of Cs-137, Sr-90, and Pu from waste supernate]. United States: N. p., 1976. Web. doi:10.2172/7138623.
Wiley, J R. Decontamination of Savannah River Plant waste supernate. [Removal of Cs-137, Sr-90, and Pu from waste supernate]. United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/7138623
Wiley, J R. 1976. "Decontamination of Savannah River Plant waste supernate. [Removal of Cs-137, Sr-90, and Pu from waste supernate]". United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/7138623. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/7138623.
@article{osti_7138623,
title = {Decontamination of Savannah River Plant waste supernate. [Removal of Cs-137, Sr-90, and Pu from waste supernate]},
author = {Wiley, J R},
abstractNote = {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.},
doi = {10.2172/7138623},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/7138623}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1976},
month = {Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1976}
}