Liquid radioactive waste processing improvement of PWR nuclear power plants

The study evaluate an inorganic ion exchange to process the low level liquid radwaste of PWR nuclear plants, so that the level of the radioactivity in the effluents and the solid waste produced during the treatment of these liquid radwaste can be reduced. The work compares two types of ion exchange materials, a strong acid cation exchange resin, that is the material typically used to remove radionuclides from PWR nuclear plants wastes, and a mordenite zeolite. These exchange material were used to remove cesium from a synthetic effluent containing only this ion and another effluent containing cesium and cobalt. The breakthrough curves of the zeolite and resin using a fix bed reactor were compared. The results demonstrated that the zeolite is more efficient than the resin in removing cesium from a solution containing cesium and cobalt. The results also showed that a bed combining zeolite and resin can process more volume of an effluent containing cesium and cobalt than a bed resin alone. (author)