PRELIMINARY EVALUATION OF CHROMATOGRAPHIC TECHNIQUES FOR THE SEPARATION OF RADIONUCLIDES FROM HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTE

Abstract

ABSTRACT Three commercially available chromatographic materials were tested in a column mode for use in separating Am, Pu, and ™Sr from actual neutralized cladding removal waste (NCRW) taken from a Hanford waste tank. For these experiments, the NCRW was dissolved in HNO3/HF solutions. TRU-Spec™ was evaluated for the separation of transuranic elements. TRU-Spec™ removed Am and Pu from a dissolved NCRW solution, but not as effectively as the TRUEX solvent extraction process. Sr. Spec™ and SuperLig™ 601 were evaluated for the separation of Sr, Sr- Spec™ performed very well in the separation of SK from dissolved NCRW solution; Sr was not detectable in the column effluent after six bed volumes of solution had been passed through the column. SuperLig™ 601 was less effective than Sr- Spec™ at separating Sr from dissolved NCRW solution under the conditions used in this experiment. The poor performance of SuperLig Spec™ 601 has been attributed to slow kinetics of absorption of Sr.