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Abstract
Removing radioactive iodine from solutions containing fission products is essential for nuclear facility decontamination, radioactive waste treatment, and medical isotope production. For example, the production of high-purity fission 99Mo by irradiation of 235U with neutrons involves the removal of iodine from an alkaline solution of the irradiated target (which contains numerous fission products and a large quantity of aluminate ions) using silver-based materials or anion-exchange resins. To be practically applicable, the utilized iodine adsorbent should exhibit a decontamination factor of at least 200. Herein, the separation of radioactive iodine from alkaline solutions was achieved using alumina doped with silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs). Ag NPs have a larger surface area than Ag powder/wires and can thus adsorb iodine more effectively and economically, whereas alumina is a suitable inert support that does not adsorb 99Mo and is stable under basic conditions. The developed adsorbents with less impurities achieved iodine removal and recovery efficiencies of 99.7 and 62%, respectively, thus being useful for the production of 131I, a useful medical isotope.

Author information

Kim T1, Lee SK2, Lee S3, Lee JS3, Kim SW4.
1
Analytical Chemistry Laboratory, Department of Advanced Materials Chemistry, Dongguk University-Gyeongju, Gyeongbuk 780-714, Republic of Korea.
2
Division of Radioisotope Research, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, 989-111 Daedoek-daero, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-353, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: seungkonlee@kaeri.re.kr.
3
Division of Radioisotope Research, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, 989-111 Daedoek-daero, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-353, Republic of Korea.
4
Analytical Chemistry Laboratory, Department of Advanced Materials Chemistry, Dongguk University-Gyeongju, Gyeongbuk 780-714, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: swkim@doungguk.ac.kr.