title: Removal of radioactive caesium from low level radioactive waste (LLW) streams using cobalt ferrocyanide impregnated organic anion exchanger.
abstract: The volumes of low level waste (LLW) generated during the operation of nuclear reactor are very high and require a concentration step before suitable matrix fixation. The volume reduction (concentration) is achieved either by co-precipitating technique or by the use of highly selective sorbents and ion exchange materials. The present study details the preparation of cobalt ferrocyanide impregnated into anion exchange resin and its evaluation with respect to removal of Cs in LLW streams both in column mode and batch mode operations. The Kd values of the prepared exchanger materials were found to be very good in actual reactor LLW solutions also. It was observed that the exchanger performed very well in the pH range of 3-9. A batch size of 6 g l(-1) of the exchanger was enough to give satisfactory decontamination for Cs in actual reactor LLW streams. The lab scale and pilot plant scale performance of the exchanger material in both batch mode and column mode operations was very good.
authors.affiliation: Waste Management Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Trombay 400 085, India. tpvalsala@yahoo.co.in
authors.forename: T P
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Valsala
authors.forename: S C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Roy
authors.lastname: J G Shah
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gabriel
authors.forename: Kanwar
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Raj
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Venugopal
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D002586:Cesium / Q000302:isolation & purification; D002588:Cesium Radioisotopes / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D005295:Ferrocyanides / Q000737:chemistry*; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D007474:Ion Exchange; D055848:Nuclear Power Plants; D010865:Pilot Projects; D014875:Water Pollutants, Radioactive / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D002588:Cesium Radioisotopes; D005295:Ferrocyanides; D014875:Water Pollutants, Radioactive; D002586:Cesium; C020354:hexacyanoferrate II