Retention behavior of anionic radionuclides using metal hydroxide sludge

Abstract

Abstract With the speedy growth of nuclear power production, the removal and disposal of radioactive nuclides such as 129I, 99Tc, 79Se, 36Cl, 93Mo, and 137Cs become major environmental security issues. Retention of these radionuclides, especially anionic species such as 129I (t1/2 1.7 × 107 years), 93Mo (t1/2 4 × 103 years) and 79Se (t1/2 3.27 × 105 years) has been challenging. 129I, 93Mo and 79Se bind very weakly to most sorbents and deposits. This study has examined the sorption potential of Metal hydroxide sludge (MHS) for 125I (t1/2 60.2 days), 99Mo (t1/2 2.75 days) and 75Se (t1/2 120 days) as a surrogate for 129I, 93Mo and 79Se, respectively. MHS has been characterized by different techniques and the factors affecting the sorption processes were investigated. The experimental data were analyzed using kinetic models and thermodynamic parameters. The results showed that the kinetics of sorption of 125I and 99Mo on MHS proceeds according to the pseudo-first-order, on the contrary of 75Se sorption follows pseudo second-order kinetic model. The maximum sorption capacity of MHS was found to be 51.2 mg/g, 46.5 mg/g and 40.2 mg/g for 125I, 99Mo and 75Se, respectively. It can be concluded that, in the case of release of anionic radionuclide species to the surroundings the MHS could act as a succeeded and economical sorbent material for retention of different anionic radionuclides such as 133, 129I, 79Se, 36Cl, 93, 99Mo, and 99Tc. To avoid the release of such anionic species from the stored nuclear wastes to the environment.