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4768011 
Journal Article 
NUCLIDE SEPARATION MODELING THROUGH REVERSE OSMOSIS MEMBRANES IN RADIOACTIVE LIQUID WASTE 
Lee, BSik 
2015 
1 
Nuclear Engineering and Technology
ISSN: 1738-5733 
47 
7 
859-866 
WOS:000366528800007 
The aim of this work is to investigate the transport mechanism of radioactive nuclides through the reverse osmosis (RO) membrane and to estimate its effectiveness for nuclide separation from radioactive liquid waste. An analytical model is developed to simulate the RO separation, and a series of experiments are set up to confirm its estimated separation behavior. The model is based on the extended Nernst-Plank equation, which handles the convective flux, diffusive flux, and electromigration flux under electroneutrality and zero electric current conditions. The distribution coefficient which arises due to ion interactions with the membrane material and the electric potential jump at the membrane interface are included as boundary conditions in solving the equation. A high Peclet approximation is adopted to simplify the calculation, but the effect of concentration polarization is included for a more accurate prediction of separation. Cobalt and cesium are specifically selected for the experiments in order to check the separation mechanism from liquid waste composed of various radioactive nuclides and nonradioactive substances, and the results are compared with the estimated cobalt and cesium rejections of the RO membrane using the model. Experimental and calculated results are shown to be in excellent agreement. The proposed model will be very useful for the prediction of separation behavior of various radioactive nuclides by the RO membrane. Copyright (C) 2015, Published by Elsevier Korea LLC on behalf of Korean Nuclear Society. 
Extended Nernst-Planck equation; Membrane performance; Reverse osmosis; Salt rejection; Transport model