Sorption Recovery of Yttrium-90 from Carbonate Media

Sorption of stable and radioactive yttrium and strontium from sodium carbonate solutions with 13 commercial organic ion exchangers and 3 inorganic sorbents was studied. Purolite S930 and Amberlite IRC 748 iminodiacetate chelating cation exchangers and Axionit RCs resorcinol–formaldehyde cation exchanger exhibit moderate (2–4 mg/g) static capacity for yttrium. With a decrease in the sodium carbonate concentration, the static capacity of both anion and cation exchangers increases. Termoxid-3K and T-50 inorganic sorbents take up 90Sr from carbonate media considerably more efficiently than yttrium. Sodium carbonate solutions of concentrations higher than 1 M efficiently desorb yttrium-90 from С100 sulfonic cation exchanger and from Termoxid-3K and T-50 inorganic sorbents with virtually no washout of 90Sr.