Evaluation of cerium-zirconium mixed oxides for separation of .sup.125Sb from radioactive liquid waste

Low level radioactive liquid waste (LLW) contains various radioisotopes like .sup.125Sb, .sup.106Ru, .sup.99Tc and traces of .sup.137Cs, .sup.134Cs, .sup.90Sr. Chemical co-precipitation method is effectively used for removal of most of the radionuclides. However, the effluent still contains traces of .sup.125Sb and needs further processing. The present study aims at the removal of .sup.125Sb from LLW using inorganic sorbents Na.sub.0.66Ce.sub.1.33Zr.sub.2O.sub.7 and Ce.sub.2MgZrO.sub.7. These sorbents were prepared via gel-combustion method and thoroughly characterized by XRD, SEM and BET surface area measurement. The distribution coefficient (K.sub.d) was evaluated as a function of various parameters like total dissolved salts, effect of concentration, etc. Freundlich and Langmuir isotherms were plotted and the data is discussed in this paper.