Decontamination of spent ion-exchangers contaminated with cesium radionuclides using resorcinol-formaldehyde resins

The origin of the emergence of radioactive contamination not removable in the process of acid-base regeneration of ion-exchange resins used in treatment of technological media and liquid radioactive waste streams has been determined. It has been shown that a majority of cesium radionuclides not removable by regeneration are bound to inorganic deposits on the surface and inside the ion-exchange resin beads. The nature of the above inorganic inclusions has been investigated by means of the methods of electron microscopy, IR spectrometry and X-ray diffraction. The method of decontamination of spent ion exchange resins and zeolites contaminated with cesium radionuclides employing selective resorcinol formaldehyde resins has been suggested. Good prospects of such an approach in deep decontamination of spent ion exchangers have been demonstrated. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.