The 200 West Area Pump-and-Treat (P&T) facility at the Hanford Site is a combined treatment train consisting of unit processes to remove radionuclides such as uranium (U) and technetium (Tc-99), other inorganic (nitrate and hexavalent chromium), and organic (carbon tetrachloride and trichloroethene) contaminants. The RAD building of the P&T facility removes Tc-99 and U using ion exchange chromatography, while the other inorganic and organic contaminants are removed in the facility’s BioPlant portion. The original design of the ion exchange resin for Tc-99 allowed for a 3-month Tc-99 breakthrough and subsequent resin canister change out. However, no Tc-99 breakthrough was noted for 3 years. The objective of the work was to analyze spent resin to determine if there are other compounds that may interfere with Tc-99 adsorption, and to determine whether the resin was removing any I-129.
Revised: October 7, 2019 |
Published: September 2, 2017