Chemical endurance of polymeric compounds containing radioactively contaminated spent vacuum oil

Abstract

Oil-absorbent suspension was incorporated in a matrix material based on epoxy-4,4′-isopropylidenediphenol resin under laboratory conditions. The following powder materials were used as absorbents: magnesium and calcium oxides, Taunit, Aerosil, high-reactivity carbon mixture, and N910 synthetic polymer. Experiments were performed with radioactively contaminated spent VM-4 vacuum oil from chemicalmetallurgical production. The weight fraction of oil in the compounds was varied from 19 to 39%. The chemical endurance of the compound samples under the conditions of prolonged keeping in aqueous medium was examined. The results obtained show that all the polymeric samples ensure sufficiently strong fixation of oil and α-emitting nuclides, preventing their release into the leaching medium. The degree of leaching of oil and α-emitting nuclides from all the examined compounds in 90 days did not exceed 0.23 and 0.10%, respectively.