Efficient removal of iodine-131 from radioactive waste by nanomaterials

Radioactive solutions containing graphene, graphene oxide, single-walled carbon nanotube and -COOH functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes were prepared. Iodine-131 was used as the radioactive material. A high purity germanium detector with a resolution of 490 eV at 122 keV was used to measure the photon intensities emitted from the iodine-131 solutions by gamma ray spectroscopy. The intensities of the gamma radiation emitted from the radioactive solutions, the filtered solutions, and filter system were measured. The removal percentage and adsorption capacity of the investigated nanomaterials were determined. The results showed that the single-walled carbon nanotubes are superior absorbers than graphene, graphene oxide and -COOH functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes for iodine-131.