Experimental Study Aimed at Decreasing the Activity of Spent Ion-Exchange Resins

Abstract

High level decontamination is seen as a method providing the reprocessing of ion-exchange resins: they are treated with specifically selected solutions to achieve high degree of radionuclide elution. In 2021, Research Manufacturing Technological Bureau Onega launched an experimental study aimed at reducing the activity of spent ion-exchange resins unloaded from ships undergoing maintenance. Under the study, a few experiments were performed to select appropriate regenerating solutions, optimal methods for spent ion-exchange resin processing and treatment of regenerating solutions on sorbents of NZрS and TsMPA types. Based on the study, a method was proposed with an appropriate processing flowchart developed to manage spent ion-exchange resins at the ship repair site Zvezdochka.