Development of silver nanoparticle-doped adsorbents for the separation and recovery of radioactive iodine from alkaline solutions

Removing radioactive iodine from solutions containing fission products is essential for nuclear facility decontamination, radioactive waste treatment, and medical isotope production. For example, the production of high-purity fission ⁹⁹Mo by irradiation of ²³⁵U with neutrons involves the removal of iodine from an alkaline solution of the irradiated target (which contains numerous fission products and a large quantity of aluminate ions) using silver-based materials or anion-exchange resins. To be practically applicable, the utilized iodine adsorbent should exhibit a decontamination factor of at least 200. Herein, the separation of radioactive iodine from alkaline solutions was achieved using alumina doped with silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs). Ag NPs have a larger surface area than Ag powder/wires and can thus adsorb iodine more effectively and economically, whereas alumina is a suitable inert support that does not adsorb ⁹⁹Mo and is stable under basic conditions. The developed adsorbents with less impurities achieved iodine removal and recovery efficiencies of 99.7 and 62%, respectively, thus being useful for the production of ¹³¹I, a useful medical isotope.