Abstract
Removal of239Puwith or without accompanying fission products from aqueous solution by coprecipitation with iron (III) hydroxide has been studied as functions of solution pH and the concentration of239Pu, the coprecipitant, and sodium nitrate added to the mixed system.
It has been shown that239Puis removed in a more extent with the increased pH throughout the range of pH 5-8, beyond which the decontamination factor is saturated to give a constant value of (3-4) ×102up to pH 12. An addition of the electrolyte, sodium nitrate, did not affect the removal of239Puthroughout the concentration from 0.1 to 1 M, whereas at the concentration of 0.01 M, iron (III) hydroxide was dispersed finely to result in the formation of a colloidal solution, that led to a decreased DF value. The coprecipitant concentration required for the sufficient removal was found to be ca. 500 ppm. The DF value was not much dependent on the239Puconcentration in the range of 1×10-4to 2×10-1μCi/ml. DF of239Puremained unchanged by the addition of fission products to the contaminant solution. An additional procedure for the subsequent removal gave approximately the same DF value as the first treatment for removing239Puor95Zr-95Nb, whereas the successive removal of144Ce, 90Sr-90Y, or106Ruwas effected scarcely by the second treatment in comparison with the first.
