Study on actinoid isolation by antimonide ion exchanger

To establish a containment of long-life nuclides and an effective reduction of waste volume is important to reduce the loadings on the natural environment. Chemical isolation of radioactive nuclides from wastes was attempted by using inorganic ion exchanger with high specificity and thermal stability. In this study, titanium antimonide was used as an ion exchanger to investigate the adsorption of trivalent metallic ions according to Kielland plot curves. When the ionic equivalent fraction (X-barM) was around 0.005, Kielland plot curve of either of 3-valent metallic ions was bent, suggesting the exchanger had two different adsorption sites. The slope of the curve became smaller as an elevation of temperature. These results show that the ion radius was decreased resulting from partial elimination of the hydrated water of ion and thus, the steric conditions around the exchange site might be improved. (M.N.)