Separation of carrier-free 90Y from high level waste by supported liquid membrane using KSM-17

Abstract

A generator system has been developed for the preparation of carrier-free 90Y from 90Sr present in the high level waste (HLW) of the Purex process by employing a supported liquid membrane (SLM) using 2-ethylhexyl-2-ethylhexyl phosphonic acid (KSM-17 equivalent to PC 88A) supported on a polytetrafluoro ethylene (PTFE) membrane. When uranium depleted Purex HLW at appropriate acidity is passed sequentially through octyl (phenyl)-N,N-diisobutylcarbamoylmethylphosphine oxide (CMPO) sorbed on chromosorb-102 (abbreviated as CAC) and Zeolite AR1 (synthetic mordenite) columns, all the trivalent, tetravalent and hexavalent metal ions and monovalent 137Cs ions are sorbed. After adjusting to pH 2 with NaOH the resulting effluent is used as feed in a single stage membrane cell partitioned with a PTFE membrane impregnated with KSM-17 and having a feed and receiver compartment with 5.0 ml capacity each. The receiver compartment was filled with a 0.5M HNO3 or 0.5M HCl stripping solution. 90Y alone is preferentially transported across the membrane leaving behind all the impurities viz. 90Sr, 125Sb, 106Ru, 106Rh, etc. in the feed compartment. This technique can yield 90Y in mCi levels in a pure and carrier-free form for medical applications. The feed can be reused repeatedly after allowing for 90Y buildup.