IAEA-TECDOC-337 INORGANI EXCHANGERN CIO ADSORBENTD SAN S FOR CHEMICAL PROCESSING IN THE NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE PROCEEDINGS OF A TECHNICAL COMMITTEE MEETING ON INORGANI EXCHANGERN CIO ADSORBENTD SAN S FOR CHEMICAL PROCESSIN NUCLEAE TH GN I R FUEL CYCLE ORGANIZEE TH Y DB INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY AND HELD IN VIENNA, 12-15 JUNE 1984 TECHNICAA L DOCUMENT ISSUEE TH Y DB INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY, VIENNA, 1985 INORGANI EXCHANGERN CIO ADSORBENTD SAN S FOR CHEMICAL PROCESSIN NUCLEAE TH GN I R FUEL CYCLE IAEA, VIENNA, 1985 IAEA-TECDOC-337 Printed by the IAEA in Austria July 1985 PLEAS AWARE EB E THAT ALL OF THE MISSING PAGES IN THIS DOCUMENT WERE ORIGINALLY BLANK The IAEA doe t maintaisno n stock f reportso thin si s series. However, microfiche copie f thesso e reportobtainee b n sca d from IN IS Clearinghouse International Atomic Energy Agency Wagramerstrasse5 0 10 P.Ox Bo . A-1400 Vienna, Austria Orders should be accompanied by prepayment of Austrian Schillings 80.00 for e for e chequ th a f m IAEth f o m n i o n i r Aeo microfiche service coupons which may be ordered separately from the IN IS Clearinghouse. FOREWORD Radioactive off-gases and low- to high-activity liquid and solid wastes arise froe operatioth m f poweo n r reactors, spent fuel reprocessing plants and other nuclear fuel cycle facilities. The safe treatment and disposal of radioactive wastes is, therefore, an important engineering task. So is the extraction and recovery of useful fission product d actinidean s s from various sources. Inorganic ion-exchangers and adsorbents have been receiving attention for these purposes because of their strong chemical affinity, high retention capacit r certaifo y n radionuclide d higan s h resistanc o irradiationt e . In response to the growing interest in these topics, the IAEA convened the Technical Committee Meeting on "Inorganic Ion-Exchangers and Adsorbent r Chemicafo s l Processin e Nucleath n i gr Fuel Cycles it t "a Headquarters from June 12 to 15, 1984 with the attendance of 29 participants fro Membe5 1 m r States. This Technical Document contains the 20 papers presented during the Meeting. A variety of inorganic ion-exchangers and adsorbents have been reported: zeolites, ammonium molybdophosphate, magnetite, sodium titanate, zinc-charcoal mixtures, polyantimonic acid, titanium phosphate, zirconium phosphate, hydrated alumina, silica, bentonites, mordenite, hydrous titanium oxidd an e others. The potential usefulness of these inorganic compounds has been prove n varioui d s area f nucleao s r fuel cycle technology, especialln i y the separatio d fixatioan n f fissioo n n product e d actinideth an s n i d an s treatment of effluents from nuclear power plants and of dissolver off-gases. The use of the inorganic ion-exchangers and adsorbents can entail many advantages over conventional processe e areath f o sn i s radioactive waste treatment and in the recovery of fission products and of actinides. e AgencTh y wishe e scientists o th thant s l al k , engineerd an s institutions who contributed to this Meeting with their papers and their participation. Special thanks are due to the General Chairman, . H.J.AchMr e (Federal Republi Sessioe f Germanyth o c o t n d Chairmen)an , Messrs. L. Szirtes (Hungary), E.W. Hooper (United Kingdom), C. Madic (France), Weng Haomi e (Japan)n Ab (China . M .d )an e officee IAETh th Af o rresponsibl r thifo es Meetins wa g . DivisioUgajie M th f no f Nuclea no r Fuel Cycle. Assistanc preparinn i e g the final document was provided by S. Ajuria. EDITORIAL NOTE In preparing this material for the press, staff of the International Atomic Energy Agency have mounted and paginated the original manuscripts as submitted by the authors and given some attention to the presentation. Tïie views expressed papers,the statementsin the general the made and style adoptedare the responsibility of the named authors. The views do not necessarily reflect those of the govern- ments of the Member States or organizations under whose auspices the manuscripts were produced. The use in this book of particular designations of countries or territories does not imply any judgement by the publisher, the IAEA, as to the legal status of such countries or territories, of their authorities institutions and delimitation the of or theirof boundaries. The mention of specific companies or of their products or brand names does not imply any endorsement or recommendation on the part of the IAEA. Authors are themselves responsible for obtaining the necessary permission to reproduce copyright material from other sources. CONTENTS Introduction .................................................................................................................... 7 Sodium titanate - A highly selective inorganic ion exchanger for strontium .................... 9 /. Lehto.J.K. Miettinen The effect of gamma radiation on various inorganic ion exchangers ................................ 19 SzirtesL. separatior TechnologS d an s disposarolC n d i f yean o l strateg higf yo h level waste 1 .......3 . L.H. Baetsle Evaluatio f zeolitno e mixture r decontaminatinsfo g high-activity-level watee th t ra Three Mile Island uni nuclea2 t r power station ...........................................................3 4 . E.D. Collins, D.O. Campbell, L.J. King, J.B. Knauer, R.M. Wallace Applicatio f silver-freno e zeolite removo st e iodine from dissolver off-gase spenn i s t fuel reprocessing plants .......................................................................................................3 5 . T. Sakurai, Y. Komaki, A. Takahashi, M. Izumo Radioactive ruthenium removal from liquid wastes of "Mo production process using zincharcoad can l mixture ...........................................................................................3 6 . R. Motoki, M. Izumo, K. Onoma, S. Motoishi, A. Iguchi, T. Sato, T. Ito Ion exchange characteristics of hydrous oxides and their use in the separation of uraniu thoriud man m ...................................................................................................5 7 . N.Z. Misak, H.N. Salama, EM. Mikhail, IM. El-Naggar, N. Petra, H.F. Ghoneimy, S.S. Shafik Inorganic sorbents in spent resin incineration — The ATOS process ................................ 85 C. Airola, A. Hultgren Precipitated magnetite in alpha effluent treatment ............................................................ 97 K. Hording The application of inorganic ion exchangers to the treatment of alpha-bearing waste streams ........................................................................................................................ 113 HooperW. E. Separation and purification of fission products from process streams of irradiated nuclear fuel .................................................................................................................... 133 S.A.H.J.AU, Ache Efficacy of argillaceous minerals used as a migration barrier in a geological waste repository ...................................................................................................................3 14 . E.R. Merz . Ten years of experience in extraction Chromatographie processes for the recovery, separatio purificatiod nan f actinidno e elements ...........................................................7 15 . C Madic, J. Bourges, G. Koehly Synthetic inorganic ion exchangers and their potential use in thé nuclear fuel cycle ........ 173 A. Clearfield Fundamental properties of acid salts of tetravalent metals and some considerations on the perspectives of their application in nuclear technology ........................................ 195 G. Alberti Recover f cesium-13yo 7 from radioactive waste solution scomple w witne ha x inorganic ion exchanger ................................................................................................................ 213 Zhaoxiang,S. Zhigang,T. Zun,H. L Zhenghao, Haomin,W. Taihua,L. BoliL. Treatment of liquid wastes containing actinides and fission products using sodium titanate as an ion exchanger ........................................................................................ 223 Y. Ying, Meiqiong,L. XiannuaF. Ion-exchange propertie f zeoliteso theid san r applicatio processino nt high-levef go l liquid waste ................................................................................................................ 237 T. Kanno, MimuraH. Studie inorganin so exchangern cio s — Fundamental propertie applicatiod san n ni nuclear energy programmes ............................................................................................ 249 R.M. lyer, A.R. Gupta, VenkataramaniB. Ion-exchange selectivitie antimonin so c acid metad san l antimonates ...............................3 26 . M.Abe Panel discussion ................................................................................................................ 277 Lis participantf o t s ...........................................................................................................9 27 . INTRODUCTION In spite of a slowing down of construction of new power plants in comparison o previout s forecasts, nuclear energy continue a prove e b o nt s sourc f electricito e n essentiaa d yan l componen e energth f yo t balancf eo many countries. By the end of 1983 there were 317 nuclear power reactors in operation, which produce e world'th df o abous % electricity12 t e Th . total capacity of these reactors was 191 gigawatts (GWe). The IAEA now estimates thae totath t l installed nuclear capacit worle th dn y