Technetium Removal from Hanford and Savannah River Site Actual Tank Waste Supernates with Superlig^®639 Resin

Abstract

Center with SuperLig ® 639 resin using actual Hanford Site tank waste samples. The resin was shown to be highly effective at pertechnetate removal from these caustic, highsodium, aqueous waste samples. Pertechnetate ion was subsequently eluted from the columns with water. An additional column test conducted on a Savannah River Site waste sample revealed exceptional performance, presumably due to the fact that lower concentrations of competing anions (primarily nitrate) were present in the sample.

Basic Research Needs for Environmental Management

“…The WTP project conducted extensive testing of SuperLig® 639 resin (Johnson et al 2000). Laboratoryscale and pilot-scale column tests were conducted using simulants and actual tank waste samples (King et al 2001;McCabe et al 2000). Chemical and radiation stability testing of SuperLig® 639 resin has also been conducted.…”

Pertechnetate immobilization with amorphous iron sulfide

“…Various remediation methods for technetium contamination in the vadose zone from tank leakage at the Hanford Site have been considered [9][10][11][12][13][14]. The gas-phase approach using hydrogen *Author for correspondence (E-mail: JurissonS@missouri.edu).…”

Potential interferences on the pertechnetate-sulfide immobilization reaction

“…Technetium may be present in oxidation states −1 to +7 in the environment [7][8][9], however, under non-reducing conditions, Tc-99 is generally present as the highly stable and mobile pertechnetate anion (TcO 4 − ). Various remediation methods have been considered for TcO 4 − contamination in the vadose zone at the Hanford Site [10][11][12][13][14][15]. However, in-situ gaseous immobilization technology using hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S) is attractive for Tc-99 contaminated soil because of its ease of introduction into the vadose zone, control of the gas delivery, its efficient removal after completion of the treatment, and its successful use [16][17][18].…”