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Title: DEVELOPMENT OF AN IMPROVED TITANATE-BASED SORBENT FOR STRONTIUM AND ACTINIDE SEPARATIONS UNDER STRONGLY ALKALINE CONDITIONS

Journal Article · · Separation Science and Technology

High-level nuclear waste produced from fuel reprocessing operations at the Savannah River Site (SRS) requires pretreatment to remove {sup 134,137}Cs, {sup 90}Sr, and alpha-emitting radionuclides (i.e., actinides) prior to disposal onsite as low level waste. Separation processes at SRS include the sorption of {sup 90}Sr and alpha-emitting radionuclides onto monosodium titanate (MST) and caustic side solvent extraction of {sup 137}Cs. The MST and separated {sup 137}Cs is encapsulated along with the sludge fraction of high-level waste (HLW) into a borosilicate glass waste form for eventual entombment at a federal repository. The predominant alpha-emitting radionuclides in the highly alkaline waste solutions include plutonium isotopes {sup 238}Pu, {sup 239}Pu, and {sup 240}Pu; {sup 237}Np; and uranium isotopes, {sup 235}U and {sup 238}U. This paper describes recent results evaluating the performance of an improved sodium titanate material that exhibits increased removal kinetics and capacity for {sup 90}Sr and alpha-emitting radionuclides compared to the current baseline material, MST.

Research Organization:
Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
DE-AC09-08SR22470
OSTI ID:
973187
Report Number(s):
SRNL-STI-2010-00112; SSTEDS; TRN: US1001708
Journal Information:
Separation Science and Technology, Journal Name: Separation Science and Technology; ISSN 0149-6395
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English