Radiotracer Studies on the Uptake of Strontium by Poly(Styrene-DVB) Resins Containing Iminodiacetic Acid Groups

Abstract

The uptake of strontium has been studied using two commercially available chelating resins containing iminodiacetic acid functional groups. The resins have been characterized with respect to moisture content, swelling behaviour, ion exchange and chelating capacities. The effect of pH, sodium and strontium concentrations on the uptake of strontium has been determined by carrying out batch equilibration tests. The suitability of using such a resin for removal of radiostrontium from radioactive waste solutions has also been tested in laboratory-scale column experiments.

Evaluation of Amberlite IRC‐718 Chelating Ion Exchange Resin in Loading‐Elution‐Regeneration Cycles for the Separation and Recovery of Strontium from Alkaline Radioactive Waste

“…It is seen that the K d value is high even in the presence of 3.8 M sodium ions, which indicates Separation and Recovery of Radiostrontium 691 remarkable selectivity of the exchanger toward strontium. The ion exchange capacity of the resin is found to be the same as obtained earlier [13] . The batch result (K d value) and bed density of the resin were used to calculate the volumetric distribution coefficient [K d (vol)] as follows: The volumetric distribution coefficient is useful for predicting the column loading performance, as discussed in an earlier publication [2] .…”

“…It is similar to the one used earlier [13] except for minor changes and is representative of the composition of stored intermediate level reprocessing waste. The solution was made using reagent grade chemicals in 5 L batches.…”

“…The resin was conditioned and converted to the H-form as described earlier [13] . All experiments were performed using the air-dried resin in H-form.…”

“…Our interest in Amberlite IRC-718 arises from this regenerative nature which suggests the possibility of integrating the separation and recovery of 90 Sr with the flowsheet adopted in India for the separation and recovery of 137 Cs using RFPR in repeated cycles. In our earlier work, the results of batch studies on uptake of Sr(II) by Amberlite IRC-718 and a preliminary column run were reported [13] . In order to ascertain the suitability of this resin for incorporation in the combined flowsheet, more extensive column tests have been conducted with the following objectives: a) To determine column breakthrough behavior during separation of Sr(II) ions from an alkaline solution containing high concentration of sodium salts.…”