Technical Feasibility Study of Electrolytic Ion Transfer Membranes for Radioactive Liquid Waste Processing

摘要

Results are presented of a test program designed to determine the technical feasibility of INNOVA Ion Transfer Membranes (ITM) to separate radionuclides from waste streams at N Reactor. The ITM system was tested using the following test solutions, which either chemically simulated or duplicated the radioactive waste streams generated at N Reactor: TURCO 4512A - exp 59 Co, 4% Na sub 2 So sub 4 - exp 59 Fe, and Ion Exchange Resin Regeneration (IXR) waste from an irradiated fuel storage basin. In addition, the ITM construction material was tested to determine its resistance to a radioactive environment. To assure that the ITM membranes could withstand a radioactive environment, samples of the ITM membrane material were exposed to high doses of gamma radiation and then tested for change in burst strength. The irradiated membranes did not show significant signs of degradation until a total gamma radiation exposure of 10 exp 7 Rads was reached. Extrapolation of this data strongly suggests that the membrane life expectancy in a radiation environment is good. The following recommendations were made. Sequential unialysis be investigated for processing IXR waste. Reactor Decontamination Waste be treated by the Oxidation Reduction Coagulation cell prior to ITM processing to confirm pre-treatment feasibility. The Oxidation Reduction Coagulation cell be developed for other N Area applications. An ITM unialysis system be developed for selective radionuclide extraction from irradiated fuel storage basins. The ITM economic feasibility be determined on the applications tested in this report. A unialysis ITM system be tested for extraction of radionuclides from electropolish decontamination wastes. (ERA citation 08:001774)