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Pretreatment of nuclear process wastes for ion exchange removal of Cs and other radionuclides is one way to minimize amount of high-level radioactive waste at Hanford. This study evaluated Cs-selective SuperLig{reg_sign}644 (IBC Advanced Technologies, American Fork UT) entrapped in a proprietary WWL web membrane (3M) for chemical/radiation stability in simulated caustic neutralized current acid waste (NCAW), 0.5M HNO{sub 3}, water, and air. After exposure up to 2.0E+09 rad, the material was evaluated for Cs uptake in 5M sodium NCAW simulants with varying Cs contents. Radiolytic stability appears to be sufficient for ion exchange pretreatment of radioactive Cs: essentially no decrease in Cs selectivity or loading (Kd) was observed during {sup 60}Cs gamma irradiation in water or 0.5M HNO{sub 3} up to 1.0E+09 rad. Cs Kd decreased by a factor of 2 after 2.0E+09 rad exposure. Cs Kd did not change during irradiation in 5M NCAW or ambient air up to 1.0E+08 rad, but decreased by more than an order of magnitude between 1.0E+08 and 2.0E+09 rad (not typical of process conditions). Chemical stability under caustic conditions is lower than in air or under neutral/acidic conditions. Results indicate that this material is less stable in caustic solution irrespective of radiation exposure. Samples of the membrane retained their physical form throughout the entire experiment and were only slightly brittle after exposure to 2.0E+09 rad. (The material evaluated was a finely ground (400 mesh) particulate engineered to form a polymeric fiber (WWL), not the macroscopic form of SuperLig{reg_sign} 644 resin (20 to 50 mesh).) |
