METHOD FOR DECONTAMINATING RADIOACTIVE WASTE AND SOIL Russian patent published in 2007 - IPC G21F9/28 

FIELD: environment protection; decontamination of radiochemical industry radioactive waste, sediment cake, sludge, highly concentrated acid solutions, and soils containing radionuclides.

SUBSTANCE: proposed method for decontaminating radioactive materials includes a number of sequential operations: extraction of radionuclides from solid phase by means of mineral acid; neutralization of solution with alkali to pH = 5.8-5.9; separation of sediment by sedimentation, treatment of clarified solution with alkali to pH = 9-10 and its oxidation-reduction treatment in electrolyzer incorporating soluble electrodes of manganese steel with atmospheric oxygen saturated solution. Joint precipitation products of radionuclides are removed by sedimentation together with collectors and coagulants. Solution is filtered off, corrected by means of acid to pH = 8.5-9.0, and passed through sorbent followed by solution treatment using dialysis through electrical membrane and reconditioning of decontamination agents.

EFFECT: enhanced degree of decontamination, minimized amount of radioactive sludge, ability of extracting valuable components from waste, reduced maintenance charges.

3 cl, 1 dwg