90Sr adsorption from the aquatic environment of Chornobyl exclusion zone by chemically enhanced TiO2

Abstract

This paper describes the testing of titanium dioxide, chemically modified by arsenate groups, as an adsorbent of 90Sr from the component of aquatic ecosystems of the Chornobyl exclusion zone. It is shown, that the chemical composition of the aquatic environment impacts 90Sr adsorption. The 4As-TiO2 adsorbent reduces the activity of some samples by almost 100 %, which indicates selectivity and high adsorption capacity of the adsorbent in relation to 90Sr. In some experiments, this value reached 100 %, and the activity was reduced to the level of the maximum permissible 90Sr concentration.

Application of Titanium Dioxide for Zirconium Ions Adsorption and Separation from a Multicomponent Mixture

“…This fact is extremely valuable for nuclear forensics or the determination of 90 Sr in low activity background samples. Використання діоксиду титану для адсорбції йонів цирконію та виділення їх із багатокомпонентної суміші 1 Ужгородський національний університет, Ужгород, Україна, h.v.vasylyeva@hotmail.com 2 Прикарпатський національний університет ім. В.Стефаника, Івано-Франківськ, Україна, myrif555@gmail.com 3 Лабораторія ядерної криміналістики, Інститут ядерних досліджень, НАН, Київ, Україна, myst@kinr.kiev.ua…”

“…Stable 89 Y, in contrast to 90 Y, plays a significant role, because it was very often used as a carrier for radioactive 90 Sr and 90 Y. This was because, the separation of 90 Sr from a mixture of fission radionuclides, during fabrication of a 90 Sr -90 Y radioactive source, was carried out by the reaction of precipitation of strontium and yttrium with oxalates [1]. Stable 89 Y in the result 90 Sr-90 Y source may be at a high concentration.…”

“…One of them is the determination of the low activity of 90 Sr in environmental samples. Radioactive 90 Sr is a very harmful beta-emitter that accumulates in bones or fish scales [1] and may, significantly harm living organisms in which it accumulates due to the long halflife. Therefore, the maximum allowable levels of 90 Sr in the environment are extremely low [2], and their analysis is very difficult to perform.…”

“…Another technique of environmental 90 Sr measurement is the separation of 90 Sr from yttrium by the oxalate precipitation and subsequent determination of 90 Sr amount based on the freshly formed daughter 90 Y. This technique is used in the determination of the amount of 90 Sr in aquatic ecosystems of the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone [1]. However, the accuracy of the oxalate technique is not very high and does not allow determining 90 Sr in low-level environmental samples.…”