The isolation and packaging of fission products at Hanford

Research and development work on the removal of specific fission products from aqueous wastes has been in progress at the Hanford Atomic Products operation for several years. Initially, the primary incentive lay in the safe and economic disposal of these wastes. Scavenging techniques were developed which permitted the precipitation of the long-lived and biologically hazardous fission products cesium and strontium and the subsequent discharge of the supernates to the soil. Recently, interest has increased in the recovery of specific fission products for use in industry. Accordingly, research and development efforts have been expanded to include the search for economic processes for the isolation of specific fission products from Hanford wastes. The processes and techniques thus far developed are logical outgrowths of the scavenging processes currently being used in the disposal of Hanford wastes. The Hanford Operations Office directed a letter of inquiry to the General Electric Company requesting an appraisal of the feasibility of isolating and packaging radiocesium from Hanford wastes. In accordance with this request, the Engineering Department conducted a brief survey to determine the process, engineering, and economic feasibility of recovering specific fission products from Hanford waste solutions. This document presents the combined efforts of personnel from Chemical Research and Chemical Development (Separations Technology Section), Process Engineering (Design Section), and Project Engineering and Project Auxiliaries (Project Section)