ABSTRACT
The cleanup or removal of radionuclides from various liquid waste streams using either adsorption or ion-exchange techniques is an area of high interest. Aqueous waste streams are formed during some nuclear operations that contain small quantities of radionuclides in addition to large quantities of various inorganic salts and possibly some organic constituents. The area of extraction chromatography, although not as popular as ion-exchange chromatography, has been used at various times by a variety of researchers. There are examples of its use sprinkled throughout the literature. Extraction chromatography appears to have become much more popular, perhaps due to the lack of commercial chelating resins available for removal of specific metal ions. The potential uses of inorganic materials as ion-exchange media have long been recognized. Some of these inorganic materials, such as silicotitanates and a zeolite, have been investigated for removal of Caesium from actual tank wastes.
