Macroporous LTA-monoliths for in-flow removal of radioactive strontium from aqueous effluents: Application to the case of Fukushima

Abstract Fukushima disaster has lead to a large amount of contaminated seawater by radionuclides as caesium and strontium. 137 Cs is a beta–gamma emitter and 90 Sr is a beta-emitter with respective half-lives of 30 and 29 years. Innovative technologies are needed to treat such complex effluent: presence of competing cations (Ca 2+ , Na + ), neutral pH (pH 7–8), together with an easy way of final disposal. We show here that a novel material appearing as a macroporous zeolite A monolith (named LTA-monolith) proves efficient for sorptive removal of Sr 2+ ions from salty aqueous solutions in continuous flow process. LTA-monolith shows high efficiency and selectivity for the in-flow treatment of radioactive water as simulated Fukushima seawater containing high amount of Na + (9.6 g L −1 ), Ca 2+ (0.4 g L −1 ), Mg 2+ (1.28 g L −1 ), K + (0.5 g L −1 ), and Sr 2+ (7.8 mg L −1 ), as well as radioactive 90 Sr 2+ (5.5 ng L −1 , 28 kBq L −1 ). LTA-monolith in-flow process discloses a decontamination capacity four times higher in comparison to batch processes. Furthermore LTA-monolith can be directly used as storage radioactive matter without solidification to perform.