• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.675-682
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• 2013

The sequential separation process, composed of an oxygen sparging process for separating lanthanides and a zone freezing process for separating Group I and II fission products, was evaluated and tested with a surrogate eutectic waste salt generated from pyroprocessing of used metal nuclear fuel. During the oxygen sparging process, the used lanthanide chlorides (Y, Ce, Pr and Nd) were converted into their sat-insoluble precipitates, over 99.5% at $800^{\circ}C$; however, Group I (Cs) and II (Sr) chlorides were not converted but remained within the eutectic salt bed. In the next process, zone freezing, both precipitation of lanthanide precipitates and concentration of Group I/II elements were preformed. The separation efficiency of Cs and Sr increased with a decrease in the crucible moving speed, and there was little effect of crucible moving speed on the separation efficiency of Cs and Sr in the range of a 3.7 - 4.8 mm/hr. When assuming a 60% eutectic salt reuse rate, over 90% separation efficiency of Cs and Sr is possible, but when increasing the eutectic salt reuse rate to 80%, a separation efficiency of about 82 - 86 % for Cs and Sr was estimated.

• Journal of Environmental Analysis, Health and Toxicology
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.237-242
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• 2018

Strontium (Sr) commonly exists in rock, groundwater, soil, plants, and animals. The Sr isotope ratio offers important information as a tracer on nature because the Sr isotopic composition is not fractionated by any biological process in these ecosystems. Hence, Sr isotope ratio has been used in several studies on tracing the Sr source for contaminated sites and human migration. In this study, we developed a separation method for Sr content, and then improved Sr isotope analysis using multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICP-MS). A powdered rock standard (NIST 2710a) was used to determine the removal of interference elements (Rb and Ca) and the recovery rate of Sr content. The results ranged from 98% to 106%. Additionally, three standard samples (NBS 987, IAPSO and NIST 1486) were analyzed to evaluate the precision and accuracy of the results. The measured $^{87}Sr/^{86}Sr$ ratio for all the samples were consistent with the reported values, within an error. These results indicate that our established Sr separation and Sr isotope measurement methods are reliable and can hence be useful in the fields of environmental and forensic sciences.

• Carbon letters
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.6-12
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• 2002

A study on the electrosorption of $Co^{2+}$ and $Sr^{2+}$ ions onto a porous activated carbon fiber (ACF) was performed to treat radioactive liquid wastes resulting from chemical or electrochemical decontamination and to regenerate the spent carbon electrode. The result of batch electrosorption experiments showed that applied negative potential increased adsorption kinetics and capacity in comparison with open-circuit potential (OCP) adsorption for $Co^{2+}$ and $Sr^{2+}$ ions. The adsorbed $Co^{2+}$ and $Sr^{2+}$ ions are released from the carbon fiber by applying a positive potential on the electrode, showing the reversibility of the sorption process. The possibility of application of the electrosorption technique to the separation of radionuclides was examined. The result of a selective removal experiments of a single component from a mixed solution showed that perfect separation of $Co^{2+}$ and $Sr^{2+}$ ions was possible by the electrosorption process.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.469-474
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• 2005

This paper presents a quantitative method of sequential separation of $^{90}Sr$, $^{241}Am$ and Pu radionuclides with an anion exchange resin and a Sr-Spec resin. The Pu isotopes were purified with an anion exchange resin. The americium and strontium fractions were separated from the matrix elements with an oxalate co-precipitation method. Americium fraction was separated from the strontium fraction with iron co-precipitation method and purified from lanthanides with anion exchange resin. Strontium-90 was purified from other hindrance elements with the Sr-Spec resin after oxalate co-precipitation. The measurement of Pu and Am isotopes was carried out by an ${\alpha}$-spectrometer. Strontium-90 was measured by a liquid scintillation counter. The radiochemical procedure of $^{90}Sr$, $^{241}Am$ and Pu radionuclides investigated in this study has been validated by application to IAEA-Reference soils.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.47 no.7
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• pp.867-874
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• 2015

Separation of cesium chloride (CsCl) and strontium chloride ($SrCl_2$) from the lithium chloride-potassium chloride (LiCl-KCl) salt was studied using a melt crystallization process similar to the reverse vertical Bridgeman growth technique. A ternary $SrCl_2-LiCl-KCl$ salt was explored at similar growth rates (1.8-5 mm/h) and compared with CsCl ternary results to identify similarities. Quaternary experiments were also conducted and compared with the ternary cases to identify trends and possible limitations to the separations process. In the ternary case, as much as 68% of the total salt could be recycled per batch process. In the quaternary experiments, separation of Cs and Sr was nearly identical at the slower rates; however, as the growth rate increased, $SrCl_2$ separated more easily than CsCl. The quaternary results show less separation and rate dependence than in both ternary cases. As an estimated result, only 51% of the total salt could be recycled per batch. Furthermore, two models have been explored to further understand the growth process and separation. A comparison of the experimental and modeling results reveals that the nonmixed model fits reasonably well with the ternary and quaternary data sets. A dimensional analysis was performed and a correlation was identified to semipredict the segregation coefficient.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.274-284
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• 2020

This study described the analytical method for simultaneous determination of 89Sr and 90Sr in liquid sample using automated separation system. Radiostrontium in 0.5 kg of liquid sample was concentrated as SrCO3 to reduce the volume of sample, and purified from the sample using Sr-resin 2 mL (BV, Bed volume). The behavior of Sr and interferences such as Ba, Ca and Y were estimated with various flow rate ranging from 1 to 4 mL min-1. The detailed procedure for the purification of Sr on Sr-resin was presented. The purified radiostronitum was measured in Cerenkov mode and then measured in Scintillation mode by mixing scintillation cocktail. The measured value in both modes were used to calculate the activity of 89Sr and 90Sr. The performance tests were carried out the lab-control-sample having various activity ratio of between 89Sr and 90Sr. The recovery of Sr was ranged from 68 to 94 %. The relative bias of 89Sr activity was ranged from -5 to 20 %, and it was ranged from -10 to 10 % for 90Sr.

• Korean Journal of Mineralogy and Petrology
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.507-520
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• 2022

The Sr isotope ratio, which is used as basic data for rock formation time, crustal and mantle evolution studies, is determined by mass spectrometer such as thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS) or multi-detector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICP-MS). In this technical report, we compared how incomplete chemical separation of elements affects the determination of Sr isotope ratios. For the experiment, commercial resin, NBS987(NIST SRM987) Sr isotope standard, and rock standard samples from the Geological Survey of Japan (GSJ) such as JG1a, JB3 and JA1 were used. As a result of the comparative experiment, it was clearly observed that the measured values of ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr change when Rb remains due to incomplete separation of the NBS987 Sr isotope standard sample as well as the rock standard samples of GSJ. This indicates that complete separation is an important factor since the calculated value deviates from the true value even though correction for isotope interference by isobar is performed when measuring the isotope ratio with MC-ICP-MS. This also suggests that, when reporting the measurement result of Sr isotope ratio using MC-ICP-MS, the measurement strength of ⁸⁵Rb should be reported together with the measurement strength of all isotopes of Sr so that isotope interference by isobar can be judged.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.34-43
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• 1991

The relationships between affinity of membranes and optimum operation conditions were investigated in the pervaporation of water(1)/ethanol(2) mixture through cellulose acetate(CA) membranes having more affinity to water and silicone rubber(SR) membranes having more affinity to ethanol. CA and SR membranes were prepared and amount of sorption, sorption selectivity, pervaporation separation factor and pervaporation rate in both of membranes were determined and compared. The effects of downstream pressure were analyzed using Thompson diagram and the sorption and pervaporation characteristics with composition of feed and operation temperature were examined in terms of affinity, activity coefficient, plasticizing effect and activation energy of individual species. In the separation of water through CA membranes, high performance of both pervaporation separation factor (water to ethanol, $[\alpha^2_1]_{PV}$) and pervaporation rate was obtained in the conditions of low downstream pressure, middle range of feed concentration and high temperature. In the separation of ethanol through SR membranes, pervaporation separation factor(ethanol to water, $[\alpha^2_1]_{PV}$) increased with downstream pressure and decreased with concentration of ethanol in feed and operation temperature, while pervaporation rate showed opposite trends to those of ($[\alpha^2_1]_{PV}$).

• Journal of Adhesion and Interface
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.14-19
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• 2008

In this study, silicone rubber (SR40) and fluororubber (FKM) mixture blends were prepared by various weight percentages, and their properties were characterized. The crosslinking rate increased as the contents of SR40 due to the crosslinking agent in SR40. As contents of FKM increase in SR40/FKM blends, thermal decomposition temperature of blends increased. When SR40/FKM blend ratio was at 50/50, the thermal decomposition stabilization was higher than that of pure SR40. The contact angle of SR40/FKM blend increased as the increase of SR40 contents in blend. All composition of SR40/FKM blends showed typical phase separation morphology. As the contents of SR40 increase in SR40/FKM blend, the degree of separation in SR40/FKM blends also increased.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.57-63
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• 2010

Layer crystallization process was tested for the separation(or concentration) of cesium and strontium fission products in a LiCl waste salt generated from an electrolytic reduction process of a spent oxide fuel. In a crystallization process, impurities (CsCl and $SrCl_2$) are concentrated in a small fraction of the LiCl salt by the solubility difference between the melt phase and the crystal phase. Based on the phase diagram of LiCl-CsCl-$SrCl_2$ system, the separation possibility by using crystallization was determined and the molten salt temperature profile during layer crystallization operation was predicted by using mathematical calculation. In the layer crystallization process, the crystal growth rate strongly affects the crystal structure and therefore the separation efficiency. In the conditions of about 20-25 l/min cooling air flow rate and less than 0.2g/min/$cm^2$ crystal flux, the separation efficiency of both CsCl and $SrCl_2$ showed about 90% by the layer crystallization process, assuming a LiCl salt reuse rate of 90wt%.