THE REMOVAL OF STRONTIUM AND CESIUM FROM SIMULATED HANFORD GROUNDWATER USING INORGANIC ION EXCHANGE MATERIALS

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Abstract
A number of inorganic ion exchange materials that are commercially available or under development were evaluated for the removal of strontium and cesium from a simulated groundwater found in the Hanford waste storage area using a groundwater simulant spiked with either 89Sr or 137 Cs. The most promising materials for strontium were found to be a sodium titanosilicate from Texas A&M University closely followed by two titanium silicate pharmacosiderites obtained from AlliedSignal. The most promising materials for the selective removal of cesium from the simulant was again the sodium titanosilicate followed by an alumina-pillared montmorillonite clay obtained from Laporte Industries Ltd. The ion exchange kinetics were shown to be very rapid for both the titanosilicate and the pharmacosiderite, whilst the alumina-pillared montmorillonite had slower kinetics more comparable to those of the zeolite AW500.