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Polona Tavcar, Ljudmila Benedik

Determination of actinides and ⁹⁰Sr in spent ion exchange resins

In the present work, we focused on determination of some important activation products like ²³⁸Pu, ²³⁹Pu/ ²⁴⁰Pu, ²⁴¹Am, and ²³⁷Np, and ⁹⁰Sr as a fission product in spent ion exchange resins. The activation products of interest are alpha emitters, while ⁹⁰Sr is a beta emitter. Radioactive solutions of ²⁴¹Am, ²³⁸Pu, ²³⁷Np, and ⁹⁰Sr and pure ion exchange resins were used to prepare artificial samples which were subsequently subjected to an analytical procedure. This consisted of wet destruction of the resins with Fenton´s reagent followed by separations using ion exchange. The activities found showed good agreement with calculated values and yields were also very good (above 50%). We also analysed five samples of spent ion exchange resin from the TRIGA Mark II research reactor. Activities of selected radionuclides were below expectations in all samples except in sample 1, which had higher activities of ⁹⁰Sr, ¹³⁷Cs, ⁶⁰Co, ¹⁵²Eu, and ¹⁵⁴Eu. Total beta/gamma activity did not exceed the max. permitted level for low level waste.

Radiochimica Acta, Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag

Print ISSN: 0033-8230
Volume: 93, 09/2005
Pages: 623 - 635

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