Uptake of Strontium-90 by Zirconium Phosphate Gels

Abstract

In this paper the uptake of carrier free ^'Sr from solution and subsequently its separation from '"Yttrium by an inorganic ion exchanger of the type of zirconium phosphate gels is presented. The uptake was determined by taking liquid aliquots at desired time intervals from solutions over various cationic forms of zirconium phosphate gels. The volume to solid ratio was kept 200. The results of kinetics and distribution coefficients revealed high selectivity for ^Sr from ^Y in all forms of zirconium phosphate gels. Cerenkov counting was used to observe the initial and final radioactivity in the liquid phase. All the ion exchange experiments were carried out at room temperature. The radioactivity in each case was corrected for the background counts.