Study of the Treatment of the Liquid Radioactive Waste Nong Son Uranium Ore Processing

Abstract

Abstract. Liquid waste from Nong Son uranium ore processing is treated with concentrated acid, agglomerated, leached, run through ion exchange and then treated with H₂O₂ to precipitate yellowcake. The liquid radioactive waste has a pH of 1.86 and a high content of radioactive elements, such as: [U] = 143.898 ppm and [Th] = 7.967 ppm. In addition, this waste contains many polluted chemical elements with high content, such as arsenic, mercury, aluminum, iron, zinc, magnesium, manganese and nickel. The application of the triditional method as one stage precipitation or precipitation in coordination with BaCl₂ is not effective. These methods generated a large amount of sludge with poor settling characteristics. The volume of final treated waste was large. This paper introduces the investigation of the treatment of this liquid radioactive waste by the method of two stage of precipitation in association with polyaluminicloride (PAC) and polymer. The impact of factors: pH, neutralizing agents, quantity of PAC and polymer to effect precipitation and improve the settling characteristics  during processing was studied. The results showed that the processing of liquid radioactive waste treatment through two stages: first stage at pH = 3 and the second stage at pH = 8.5 with  limited  PAC and polymer (A 101)  resulted in significant reduced volume of the treated waste. The discharged liquid satisfied the requirement of the National Technical Regulation on Industrial Waste Water (QCVN 24:2009).

Keywords: uranium processing, liquid radioactive waste, treatment.