How to remove radioactive waste from water

How to remove radioactive waste from water Today’s Video of the Day from the National Science Foundation (NSF) describes the complicated process of removing radioactive substances from water.

A team of chemists at the University of Iowa led by Tori Forbes is testing the ability of various compounds to bond and capture radioactive elements, such as uranium.As seen above in video; they show How to remove radioactive waste from water and the affects it has on the purity of the water itself. Therefore removing any harmful agents of virus, bacteria, etc that could be harmful for drinking water. Unfortunately, there is no simple answer for removing radiation from the water. In many cases, a combination of treatment methods, including carbon filtration, ion-exchange water softening, and reverse osmosis, is most effective.

One primary goal of the research is to help determine how to safely use and dispose of nuclear waste. During the cooling process, the water becomes contaminated with radionuclides – unstable atoms with excess energy – and must be filtered to remove as many radionuclides as possible. The filtered water is then stored in huge steel tanks or released into nearby bodies of water. A small-scale device, seen here, was used in the lab to demonstrate the effectiveness of the new shockwave-based system for removing radioactive contaminants from the cooling water in nuclear powerplants.

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By Chrissy Sexton, Earth.com Staff Writer

Video Credit: NSF