The use of columns of the zeolite clinoptilolite in the remediation of aqueous nuclear waste streams

Abstract

Mud Hills clinoptilolite has been used in an effluent treatment plant (SIXEP) at the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing site. This material has been used to remove 134/137Cs and 90Sr successfully from effluents for 3 decades. Samples of the zeolite have been tested in column experiments to determine their ability to remove radioactive Cs+ and Sr2+ ions under increasing concentrations of competing ions, Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+ and K+. These ions caused increased elution of Cs+ and Sr2+. Ca2+, Mg2+ and K+ were more effective competitors than Na+. For Na+, it was found that if concentration was reduced, then column performance recovered rapidly.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s10967-018-6329-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The effect of pre-activation and milling on improving natural clinoptilolite for ion exchange of cesium and strontium

“…To measure adsorption kinetics, cesium chloride (CsCl) and strontium chloride (SrCl2) stock solutions (1 M) were diluted with Milli-Q water at neutral pH (which tends to ~6.5, and close to buffered pH values encountered in industry [32]) to a nominal initial concentration of…”

“…Clinoptilolite ores are naturally present in large numbers of deposits around the world, and it does not generally require complicated pre-treatment processes for use, while it has good resistance to radiation exposure [1,16,27]. For example, in the United Kingdom (UK), clinoptilolite is used as an ionexchange resin for 137 Cs and 90 Sr removal from nuclear fuel cooling ponds, such as at the Sellafield site in Cumbria [28][29][30][31][32]. The particular materials used in these operations are obtained from a single deposit in California, which has good selectivity for 137 Cs and 90 Sr, and contains a low level of impurities [28,[30][31][32].…”

“…For example, in the United Kingdom (UK), clinoptilolite is used as an ionexchange resin for 137 Cs and 90 Sr removal from nuclear fuel cooling ponds, such as at the Sellafield site in Cumbria [28][29][30][31][32]. The particular materials used in these operations are obtained from a single deposit in California, which has good selectivity for 137 Cs and 90 Sr, and contains a low level of impurities [28,[30][31][32]. Indeed, while clinoptilolite is relatively abundant, ores with high exchange capacity for both strontium and cesium are far more limited, and there are probable supply issues of nuclear-grade ores for current and future treatment operations worldwide.…”

“…Various methods have been used to improve the exchange capacity of natural and synthetic clinoptilolite, as well as many other related materials, for the removal of a number of heavy A C C E P T E D M A N U S C R I P T metals and radionuclides [18,[32][33][34][35]. One of the most cost effective pre-treatments, is 'activation' of the ion-exchange sites through the addition of chemicals such as salts or acids in order to get better ion uptake performance [12,18,27,[36][37][38].…”

SAPO‐34 Framework Contraction on Adsorption of Ammonia: A Neutron Scattering Study

“…Zeolites and their related materials have a range of uses from nuclear waste remediation to cat litter and detergents . One major use is catalysis, due to their high surface area, solid acid functionality and the size selectivity conferred by their porous architecture.…”