Separation of radioisotopes from fuel reprocessing waste

The technology development of radioisotope production from fuel reprocessing high level wastes in Radioisotope Production Division is described. To develop the separation method for partitioning as the waste management and production of useful radioisotopes, the separation of 90Sr, 137Cs and rare earth elements by solvent extraction and ion-exchange has been mainly studied. Ion-exchange resin and HDEHP as the extracting agents were irradiated with a 60Co radiation source to examine their radiation resistances; Both are satisfactory in this respect. Strontium-90 and 137Cs could be separated in 99% purity from a 10l waste solution (about 2 Ci) by ion-exchange using nitric acid as the only eluant. A system of solvent extraction and ion-exchange to treat large volume of the waste was constructed in trial, and its cold test was carried out. The results were satisfactory, with a few points for further improvement. The scheme as it is can be scaled up for an experiment with about 1 KCi of the waste. (auth.)