International Conference on Fast Reactors and Related Fuel Cycles FR22: Sustainable Clean Energy for the Future (CN-291)

Removal of Radiocesium from High-Level Liquid Waste using Inorganic Ion-exchangers

21 Apr 2022, 13:40

2h

Vienna, Austria

POSTER Track 3. Fuels, Fuel Cycles and Waste Management Poster Session

Speaker

Ms Anshul Kumari (Waste Immobilization Plant, Integrated Nuclear Recycle Plant, Nuclear Recycle Board, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Kalpakkam 603 102, India)

Description

The present study demonstrates the use of inorganic ion-exchanger (IX) to condition the high-level liquid waste (HLW) by selective separation of one of the major radionuclide, cesium-137 (137Cs) from it. 137Cs possesses a broad range of potential applications in societal and agricultural area. In addition to this, the selective separation of 137Cs from HLW would drastically bring down secondary waste generation and reduce burden on the off-gas treatment in the vitrification process. Here, we have successfully demonstrated the conversion of Cs loaded IX to compact waste form.
Among the various adsorbents, Ammonium Molybdo-Phosphate (AMP) was preferred and used as IX in the present study because it shows high selectivity towards Cs+ in the presence of various metal ions (alkali, transition, lanthanides and actinides) and is stable under highly acidic & irradiation condition. Despite these advantages, the powder form of IX is not readily adaptable and does not provide ideal flow dynamics for continuous column operations. With a view to bring it to a usable form, synthesis of composite forms of IX (20-30%) in Poly-Ether-Sulfone (PES) was carried out. By adjusting the flow rate of the polymer liquid, particles with an average size ranging from 150 to 710 μm were obtained using a dual nozzle device that allows the break–up of polymer solution by air blowing. The polymer particles of 355-600 μm in diameter were mainly used for Cs extraction studies.
The obtained beads were characterized for thermal stability using thermogravimetry (TG), phase purity by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and functional group identification by Fourier transform (FT)-infra-red (IR) spectroscopy. The thermograms of IX and IX-PES beads showed few steps of decomposition reactions, it may be due to the loss of moisture, ammonia, PES and MoO3 from AMP-PES. To assess the efficiency of the IX-PES beads, its cesium extraction capacity and distribution coefficient were determined using actual HLW. The extraction capacity and distribution coefficient of cesium in actual HLW (3M acidic) was 4369.3 cm3/g and 0.4 meq/g, respectively. Column studies (L/D=3) were also carried out with an HLW flow rate of 0.5mL/min. The performance of the column was evaluated by plotting a breakthrough curve. Pellet formation of the inactive cesium loaded IX beads was successfully demonstrated using a manual pelletiser with a pressure of 150 kg/cm2.