Synthesis of sequestration resins for water treatment in light water reactors

Abstract

A sequestration resin for nuclear reactor coolant cleanup and for aqueous liquid radioactive waste cleanup that can irreversibly remove cobalt ion during reactor operation or during radioactive waste processing so as to deplete the coolant or liquid of a significant fraction of dose-causing radiocobalt is disclosed. The sequestration resin is configured to remove cobalt derived radioactivity in aqueous solutions and includes a sulfonic acid based polymer resin covalently coupled to an amine based ligand by a sulfonamide linkage. Alternatively, the sequestration resin includes a sulfonic acid based polymer resin ionically coupled to an amine based ligand that is altered at one terminus to contain a positively charged quaternary ammonium group.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A sequestration resin for the removal of cobalt derived radioactivity in an aqueous solution, comprising a sulfonic acid based polymer resin covalently coupled to an amine based ligand by a sulfonamide linkage. 
     
     
         2 . The sequestration resin according to  claim 1 , wherein the sulfonic acid based polymer resin is a sulfonated polystyrene divinylbenzene polymer resin. 
     
     
         3 . The sequestration resin according to  claim 1 , wherein the amine based ligand is selected from the group consisting of ethylenediamine, diethylenetriamine (DETA), triethylenetetramine (TETA), tetraethylenepentamine (TEPA), pentaethylenehexamine (PEHA), tris(ethylamino)amine (TEAA), polyallylamine, polyvinylamine, and polyethylenimine (PEI). 
     
     
         4 . The sequestration resin according to  claim 1 , wherein the amine based ligand is tetraethylenepentamine (TEPA) and wherein remnant sulfonic acid ionic capacity is in a monovalent TEPA conjugate form to coat added sequestration ligand onto the resin backbone in addition to the covalently linked sequestration sites. 
     
     
         5 . A method of synthesizing a sequestration resin adapted for the removal of transition metal cations and radioisotopes thereof in an aqueous solution, comprising the steps of:
 (a) providing a cation exchange resin;   (b) using an ionic interaction between a sulfonic acid functionality of the cation exchange resin and a quaternary ammonium base functionality synthetically coupled to a multi-amine sequestration ligand base to ionically couple the cation exchange resin to the multi-amine sequestration ligand base.   
     
     
         6 . The method according to  claim 5 , wherein the sulfonic acid functionality is ionized negative (−) and the quaternary ammonium base functionality is ionized positive (+). 
     
     
         7 . The method according to  claim 5 , further including the step of coating the quaternary ammonium base functionality and multi-amine sequestration ligand base onto the cation exchange resin to allow an electrostatic association between the sulfonic acid functionality of the cation exchange resin and the quaternary ammonium base functionality to bind the ligand to the cation exchange resin.