During the initial cooling period of spent nuclear fuel, Cs-137 and Sr-90 constitute a large portion of the total decay heat. Therefore, separating cesium and strontium from spent nuclear fuel can significantly decrease decay heat and facilitate disposition. This study presents analytical technique based on the gas pressurized extraction chromatography (GPEC) system with cation exchange resin for the separation of Sr, Cs, and Ba. GPEC is a micro-scaled column chromatography system that allows for faster separation and reduction volume of elution solvent compared to conventional column chromatography by utilizing pressurized nitrogen gas. Here, we demonstrate the comparative study of the conventional column chromatography and the GPEC method. Cation exchange resin AG 50W-X12 (200~400 mesh size) was used. The sample was prepared at a 0.8 M hydrochloric acid solution and gradient elution was applied. In this case, we used the natural isotopes 88Sr, 133Cs, and 138Ba instead of radioactive isotopes for the preliminary test. Usually, cesium is difficult to measure with ICP-OES, because its wavelengths (455.531 nm and 459.320 nm) are less sensitive. So, we used ICP-MS to determine the identification and the recovery of eluate. In this study, optimized experimental conditions and analytical result including reproducibility of the recovery, total analysis time and volume of eluents will be discussed by comparing GPEC and conventional column chromatography.

순수 베타 핵종인 90Sr 분석은 화학적 거동이 유사한 알칼리 토금속(Ca, Ba, Ra)등 방해 원소를 제거할 분리 공정이 필요하다. 본 연구는 Sr을 추출/정제하기 위해 추출크로마토그래피법을 이용한 최적의 절차를 마련하는 것을 목적으로 한다. Sr resin 1.5 mL BV(Bed Volume)의 최대 Sr 흡착량은 6 mg이었다. 유량 1 mL min-1과 Ca 200 mg 이하에서는 Sr resin 1.5 mL(BV) 의 Sr 회수는 정량적이었으나, 유량을 5 mL min-1으로 중가 시키면 Sr 회수율이 감소하였다. 같은 양(BV)의 Sr resin을 사용 할 경우, 컬럼의 단면적이 작을수록 Sr resin의 분리능이 향상되었다.