Phase 2 report on the evaluation of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) as a binding polymer for absorbers used to treat liquid radioactive wastes

摘要

The performance of PAN-based composite absorbers was evaluated in dynamic experiments at flow rates ranging from 25--100 bed volumes (BV) per hour. Composite absorbers with active components of ammonium molybdophosphate (AMP) PAN and K-Co ferrocyanide (KCoFC) PAN were used for separating Cs from a 1 M HNO(sub 3) + 1 M NaNO(sub 3) + 2 (times) 10(sup (minus)5) M CsCl acidic simulant solution. KCoFC-PAN and two other FC-based composite absorbers were tested for separating Cs from alkaline simulant solutions containing 0.01 M to 1 M NaOH and 1 M NaNO(sub 3) + x (times) 10(sup (minus)4) M CsCl. The efficiency of the Cs sorption on the AMP-PAN absorber from acidic simulant solutions was negatively influenced by the dissolution of the AMP active component. At flow rates of 50 BV/hr, the decontamination factor of about 10(sup 3) could be maintained for treatment of 380 BV of the feed. With the KCoFC-PAN absorber, the decontamination factor of about 10(sup 3) could be maintained for a feed volume as great as 1,800 BV. In alkaline simulant solutions, significant decomposition of the active components was observed, and the best performance was exhibited by the KCoFC-PAN absorber. Introductory experiments confirmed that Cs may be washed out of the composite absorbers. Regeneration of both absorbers for repetitive use was also found to be possible. The main result of the study is that PAN was proven to be a versatile polymer capable of forming porous composite absorbers with a large number of primary absorbers. The composite absorbers proved to be capable of withstanding the harsh acidic and alkaline conditions and significant radiation doses that may be expected in the treatment of US DOE wastes. A field demonstration is proposed as a follow-on activity.