A novel partitioning process for treatment of high level liquid waste using macroporous silica-based adsorbents

To separate the long-life and significant fission product elements from high level liquid waste (HLLW), a novel partitioning process for the treatment of HLLW has been studied experimentally based on column separation technique using macroporous silica-based adsorbents. This process consists of (1) Cs and Rb are removed by the first separation column packed with (calix[4] + dodecanol)/SiO₂–P adsorbent; (2) Sr and Ba are eluted out by the second separation column packed with (DtBuCH18C6 + dodecanol)/SiO₂–P adsorbent; (3) Pd is partitioned by the third separation column packed with MOTDGA–TOA/SiO₂–P adsorbent; (4) Ru, Rh and Mo can be separated by the fourth separation column packed with TODGA/SiO₂–P adsorbent; (5) Am is separated from RE by the fifth column is packed with isobutyl-BTP/SiO₂–P adsorbent. The experimental results indicated that this partitioning process is essentially feasible.