SODIUM ALUMINOSILICATE SOLIDS AFFINITY FOR CESIUM AND ACTINIDES

Washed sodium-aluminosilicate (NAS) solids at initial concentrations of 3.55 and 5.4 g/L sorb or uptake virtually no cesium over 288 hours, nor do any NAS solids generated during that time. These concentrations of solids are believed to conservatively bound current and near-term operations. Hence, the NAS solids should not have affected measurements of the cesium during the mass transfer tests and there is minimal risk of accumulating cesium during routine operations (and hence posing a gamma radiation exposure risk in maintenance). With respect to actinide uptake, it appears that NAS solids sorb minimal quantities of uranium - up to 58 mg U per kg NAS solid. The behavior with plutonium is less well understood. Additional study may be needed for radioactive operations relative to plutonium or other fissile component sorption or trapping by the solids. We recommend this testing be incorporated in the planned tests using samples from Tank 25F and Tank 49H to extend the duration to bound expected inventory time for solution