Pemanfaatan Amonium Zeolit dan Polimer Dalam Pengolahan Limbah Air Pendingin Reaktor Nuklir

UTILIZATION OF AMMONIUM ZEOLITES AND POLYMERS IN TREATMENT OF COOLANT WASTE OF NUCLEAR REACTOR. Operation of nuclear reactor generates radioactive wastes, and one them is the waste from primary coolant water that contain fission products Sr90, Cs137 and
corrosion product Co60 . This waste must be managed to prevent impact to the community and environment. A research on treatment of primary cooling water that contain fission products by
utilizing pure zeolite and ammonium zeolite, and immobilization of the spent ammonium zeolite with polymer has been completed. The aim of the research is to study both the sorption ability of pure zeolite and ammonium zeolite to Sr,Cs and Co, and the characteristics of the immobilization product. The experiments was carried out by contacting pure zeolite and ammonium zeolite with
simulated waste which contain Sr,Cs and Co in a varied contact time. Immobilization of spent ammonium zeolite with a polymer is conducted in a varied waste loading, i.e.: 10, 20, 30, 40 and
50% weight. The characterization of the ammonium zeolite-polymer blocks was performed by the measurement of the density, compressive strength and leaching rate. The result, at the 90 minutes
optimal contact time, showed that the ammonium zeolite sorption efficiency is higher than pure zeolite’s, in an order of Sr> Co> Cs. The characteristics of ammonium zeolite-polymer blocks was found to be the greater the waste loading the higher the density of the waste, as well as the compressive strength and the leaching rate. The best ammonium zeolite-polymer blocks were
obtained at waste loading of 20% weight, the blocks density of 1.3051 g/cm3, and the compressive strength of 9.68 kN/cm2. The presence of fission product leaching was not detected.

Keywords: Fission product, water-cooled reactor, zeolite, polymer.