Caustic-Side Solvent Effective for Cesium

摘要

The DOE has selected caustic-side solvent extraction (CSSX) as the preferred technology for safely removing cesium and trace amounts of other radionuclides from the liquid salt waste stored in Savannah River Site's underground storage tanks. The CSSX process is capable of a cesium decontamination factor of almost 100,000, meaning that all but one part cesium in 100,000 can be extracted from solution.Something unexpected happened during the December 1995 startup at the Savannah River Site (SRS). The in-tank precipitation (ITP) process for removing cesium from salt waste released more benzene than predicted. In 1998, Westinghouse Savannah River Co. concluded that the ITP project cold not meet both safety and production requirements while remaining cost effective. So, the search for a solution was begun anew with the salt processing projects (SPP).