The anionic radionuclides (e.g., I and Tc) are highly mobile as compared with the cationic ones due to their low solubility under the groundwater environments. Also, they are not likely sorbed onto the diverse solid matrix under the groundwater environments, because the solid matrix under such environments is mostly anionic at surface. In perspectives of radioactive wastes disposal, the safety assessment on such anionic radionuclides shows that they have one of the highest risks with time. Thus, the efforts to develop techniques relevant to the immobilization, separation, and recovery of the anionic radionuclides are of great interest.<br/>We designed a specific module to separate and recover the anionic radionuclides that immobilized onto a nanomaterial-based substrate. Within this module the anionic radionuclides will flow through the fluid (i.e., water). The density of the radionuclides immobilized should be higher than that of water, and the transition metals (e.g., Fe) needed for the immobilization of radionuclides could possess magnetic properties. Thus, combined by the effects of the density and magnetic property, the radionuclides immobilized could be separated within this module. To optimize the entire system, we performed a computational fluid dynamics. Our analysis includes the flow inside of the pipe line, the characteristics of the flow within the area of interest, the possibility of occurrences of the stagnant and/or turbulent section in the flow area with respect to the morphological effects. With the results obtained, we suggest the optimum morphology (i.e., a cyclone separator) and the flow characteristics for the module to separate and recover the anionic radionuclides that are immobilized onto a nanomaterial.<br/>

Conceptual design of a cyclone separator for the separation and recovery of the immobilized anionic radionuclides using a flow analysis

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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