The characteristic assessment of spent ion exchange resin from PUSPATI TRIGA REACTOR (RTP) for immobilization process

Abstract

In this paper, spent ion exchange resin generated from PUSPATI TRIGA reactor (RTP) in Malaysian Nuclear Agency were characterized based on the water content, radionuclide content and radionuclide leachability. The result revealed that the water content in the spent resin is 48%. Gamma spectrometry analysis indicated the presence of 134Cs, 137Cs, 152Eu, 54Mn, 58Co, 60Co and 65Zn. The leachability test shows a small concentrations (<1 Bq/l) of 152Eu and 134Cs were leached out from the spent resin while 60Co activity concentrations slightly exceeded the limit generally used for industrial wastewater i.e. 1 Bq/l. Characterization of spent ion exchange resin sampled from RTP show that this characterization is important as a basis to immobilize this radioactive waste using geopolymer technology.