Recovery, purification and quality evaluation of 90Sr. Chapter 4

The importance of radioactive waste as a valuable resource for the recovery of useful radionuclides has been recognized since the early days of the nuclear industry. A variety of radioactive liquid waste streams are generated during the operation of reactors, reprocessing plants and radioisotope production facilities. The radioactive constituents of the waste streams include fission products, activation products and transuranics. However, not all waste is suitable for the recovery of radionuclides. Depending on the source and nature of the waste, the activities of the radionuclides may vary over a very wide range. If the activity of the desired radionuclide is very low in a particular waste stream, that waste stream is not considered to be a viable source for recovery. From activity considerations, two waste streams that are routinely generated in several facilities around the world qualify as viable sources for recovery of 90Sr: the high level liquid waste (HLLW) generated during reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel and the waste from production of 99Mo by neutron induced fission of 235U. The nature and characteristics of these two streams are briefly discussed