Currently, non-volatile nuclides such as 94Nb, 99Tc, 90Sr, 55Fe, and 59/63Ni are used a sequential separation. In this study, we developed a separation for 99Tc and 90Sr by a carbonate precipitation. Sodium Carbonate (Na2CO3) was inserted in the aqueous sample from a Dry Active Waste (DAW) and a carbonate precipitation was produced. The precipitate is composed of di- or tri-valent element such as Co, Sr, Fe, Ni and the supernatant is composed of mono-valent element (Cs) and anion materials (ReO4 -, TcO4 -). In DAW, it was confirmed that the recovery of 90Sr (precipitate) and 99Tc (supernatant) were > 90%, respectively. The precipitate and supernatant separated by using a Sr-resin and an anion-exchange resin, respectively. The separated samples were measured by a Liquide Scintillation Counter (LSC, 90Sr) and Induced-Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectroscopy (ICPMS, 99Tc).

Concrete is one of the largest wastes, by volume, generated during the decommissioning of nuclear facilities, which significantly influences the projected costs for the disposal of decommissioning wastes. Concrete consists of aggregates and a cement binder. In radioactive concrete, the radioisotopes are mainly associated with the cement component. If the radioactive isotope can be separated from the concrete to below the clearance criteria, the volume of radioactive concrete waste could be reduced effectively. We were studied to separate the radioactive materials from the concrete by using the thermomechanical and chemical treatment processes, sequentially. From the study, separated aggregate could be treated to achieve the clearance level. However, these processes generate a large volume of secondary acidic radioactive wastewater, which might be a critical problem to reduce the volume of radioactive concrete waste. In this research, separating the 137Cs and 90Sr from dissolved concrete wastewater to below the discharge criteria by precipitation method, it would be released to the environment under industrial waste guidelines. The experiments were conducted to using a simulated radioactive wastewater, formed by the dissolution of concrete within HCl, which was spiking the 137Cs and 90Sr, respectively. In addition, we applied the chemical precipitation methods with wastewater, using ferrocyanide for 137Cs and BaSO4 coprecipitation for 90Sr. As a result, targeted radionuclides could be removed to the discharge level (137Cs: 0.05 Bq·ml−1, 90Sr: 0.02 Bq·ml−1) by precipitation method. Therefore, it could reduce the secondary wastewater effectively by precipitation method and enhance the additional volume reduction for radioactive concrete waste.

Incinerated sewage sludge ash (ISSA) is regarded as a valuable resource having great potential for the recycling ofphosphorus. The P content of ISSA is known as around 10% as a P. Therefore, this study was undertaken to investigatethe precipitation and separation characteristics of phosphorus from the acid-extracted solution of ISSA. The incineratedsewage sludge ash was leached by 1N sulfuric acid with solid/liquid ratio of 10 for 30min. The extracted solutioncontained about 1.1% of P and other metals, Al, Fe, Ca and Mg, with over than 1,000mg/L. Some heavy metals suchas Cu, Pb and Cr are presented as impurities as well. Most of Al and Fe in the extracted solution were precipitated withP when titrating it to pH 3.6. The precipitated form were assumed to AlPO4, FePO4·2H2O respectively, and Pb and Crwere precipitated in this stage as well. At this experiment, about 62.9% of the initial P was precipitated and removedfrom the solution. It was also find that all of the P extracted can not be recovered as a precipitate with a simple additionof NaOH, even though titrated to pH 11.6. The precipitated P also contained some impurities such as Al, Fe, and someheavy metals, which means that further researches are needed for the efficient separation and recovery of P from ISSA.