Abstract |
Work has been conducted on the removal of radionuclides from milk by ion exchange from the late fifties to June 1969. This has progressed from laboratory-scale to a full-scale commercial process where the system was demonstrated to be feasible using fixed-bed ion exchange columns. For three full-scale combined anion-cation runs, an average of 99.3 percent of iodine-131 and 94.6 percent of strontium-85 was removed. This process resulted in an increase in the total solids, ash, potassium, and citrate ions. The taste of the treated milk compared favorably with untreated milk, although some decrease in flavor score was noted. Good radionuclide removal was obtained using the pilot plant moving-bed system. These studies, although not extensive, showed 89, 99, and 99.5 percent removal for strontium, iodine, and cesium, respectively. The limited investigations of cesium removal showed this system to have much greater potential than the fixed-bed system. (Author) |