Desorption behavior of Cs from clay minerals by thermal heating in a vacuum; Analyses by thermal desorption spectroscopy and synchrotron radiation X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

Hirao, Norie; Shimoyama, Iwao   ; Baba, Yuji  ; Izumi, Toshinori; Okamoto, Yoshihiro  ; Yaita, Tsuyoshi; Suzuki, Shinichi

After the Fukushima nuclear plant accident, radiocesium was strongly fixed to clay minerals in the soil. Some dry methods with heating are being developed to remove radiocesium from the soil. In this work, we propose a new dry method that combines heat treatment in vacuum and molten salts to reduce the processing temperature in dry methods. Vermiculite saturated with non-radioactive Cs was heated in vacuum, and Cs contents in the vermiculite were compared before and after heating using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Approximately 40% of cesium were removed by heating at 800C for three minutes when only vermiculite was heated. Approximately 70% of cesium were removed by heating at 450C for three minutes when vermiculite was heated with NaCl/CaCl mixed salts. Based on these results, this method is expected to reduce temperature and increase efficiency on dry methods for cesium removal from clay minerals.