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Pre-treatment for the separation of actinide and noble metals from high-level radioactive waste to improve the vitrification process and performance

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Abstract

The porous compound generated from the reaction of 4-[tris(4-carboxyphenyl)methyl]benzoic acid (H4MTB) with actinide Th in simulated high-level radioactive waste can adsorb Ru, which can separate Th and Ru by more than 68.1 and 37.3%, respectively, in simulated high-level radioactive waste. The waste liquid before and after separation was vitrified with borosilicate glass and iron phosphate glass. The composition and morphology of the glasses were characterized by XRD, SEM and ICP‒OES, and the product consistency test was used to measure the chemical durability of the glasses. The chemical stability and waste loading of the glasses after the separation of actinide and noble metal elements was significantly improved. This work is of great significance for the recovery and utilization of actinide and noble metal elements in high-level radioactive waste and the optimization of the vitrification process of radioactive waste.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the “Spent nuclear fuel reprocessing special project” (BG17002003).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 201800, People’s Republic of China

    Lin Li, Zhenghua Qian, Xilei Duan, Xueyang Liu, Qiang Zhang & Yanbo Qiao

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, People’s Republic of China

    Lin Li, Zhenghua Qian, Xilei Duan, Xueyang Liu & Yanbo Qiao

  3. Nuclear Power Research Institute LTD, Suzhou, 215004, People’s Republic of China

    Hengrui Zhang

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  1. Lin Li
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  2. Zhenghua Qian
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Correspondence to Zhenghua Qian or Yanbo Qiao.

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Li, L., Qian, Z., Zhang, H. et al. Pre-treatment for the separation of actinide and noble metals from high-level radioactive waste to improve the vitrification process and performance. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 332, 5035–5043 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-023-09204-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-023-09204-9

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