Assessment of magnetite to remove Cs (Total) and Am-241 from radioactive waste

Radioactive waste can affect human hea lt and the environment, thus their safe management has received considerable attention worldwide. Radioactive waste treatment is an important step in its management. Sorption technique is one of the most studied methods to reduce the volume of radioactive waste streams and it has been successfully used for treatment of radioactive liquid wastes. Herein, the experiments were performed using magnetite (Fe3O4) as adsorbents for removal the cesium and americium from different radioactive aqueous solution. An aqueous solution with 13.9 ppm of Cs-133 was stirred with 20-25 mg of magnetite and another solution of 117.94 Bq/mL Am-241 was stirred with 50 mg using the same adsorbent but in different contact times and pH. After the experiments the magnetite was removal using a super magnet and the solutions were analyzed by ICP-OES for Cs-133 and Am-241 remaining in solution was quantified by a gamma spectrometry. The results suggested that the biosorption process for Cs is more efficient at pH 6 and 30 minutes of contact time and for Am-241 the most efficient pH was also 6 and 40 min of contact time with 93% of removal of this radionuclide from the solution. (author)