SREX - A NEW PROCESS FOR THE EXTRACTION AND RECOVERY OF STRONTIUM FROM ACIDIC NUCLEAR WASTE STREAMS

A new process for the extraction and recovery of strontium from acidic waste streams is described. In this process, called SREX (for Strontium Extraction), strontium is extracted from acidic (greater-than-or-equal-to 1 M HNO3) solution using a 0.20 M solution of di-t-butylcyclohexano-18-crown-6 in 1-octanol. Extracted strontium is readily stripped from the organic phase using either water or dilute (< 0.05 M) HNO3. Tests of the process on a synthetic dissolved sludge waste solution show that only strontium, barium, and technetium are appreciably extracted by the crown ether. Prolonged exposure of the process solvent to nitric acid at elevated temperatures or to less-than-or-equal-to 50 Wh/L gamma radiation from a Co-60 source produces essentially no deterioration in its performance. Benchtop batch countercurrent extraction experiments show that 99.7% of the strontium initially present in a feed solution can be removed in only three extraction stages.