Ion-exchange processs for low-level liquid waste treatment

Many low-level liquid waste (LLLW) streams generated in a variety of radiochemical research and processing programs at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) are collected in two waste systems. This paper reports on an experimental program under way to develop improved methods for decontaminating these two waste compositions from the major radionuclides, 137Cs, 134Cs, 90Sr, and 60Co, and also to treat some specific wastes of widely varying composition and activity at the point of generation. The concept underlying this work is that there is a net benefit if the radioactivity can be selectively removed and concentrated into a very small volume, thereby decontaminating the bulk of the waste volume (water and dissolved solids) to a sufficiently low activity that it can be disposed of or managed at a much lower total cost. At the same time, superior packaging and disposal methods can be used for the concentrate because of its small volume