Strategic Design and Optimization of Inorganic Sorbents for Cesium, Strontium and Actinides

It has been determined that poorly crystalline CST and SNT prepared at low temperature (100-150 deg. C) exhibit much faster kinetics in uptake of Sr2+. 2. In-situ X-ray studies has shown that SNT is a precursor phase to the formation of CST. 3. It is possible to form mixtures of CST and SNT in a single reactant mix by control of temperature and time of reaction. 4. It has been found that addition of a small amount of Cs+ to the reactant mix for the preparation of Nb-CST allows formation of the crystals in one day rather than ten days at 200 deg. C. 5. These discoveries suggest that a proper mix of sorbents (SNT, CST, Nb-CST) can be made easily at low cost that would remove all the HLW at the Savannah River site with a single in-tank procedure. Research Objective The basic science goal in this project is to identify structure/affinity relationships for selected radionuclides and existing sorbents. The research will then apply this knowledge to the design and synthesis of sorbents that will exhibit increased cesium, strontium and actinide removal. The target problem focuses on the treatment of high-level nuclear wastes. The general approach can likewise be applied to non-radioactive separations