New material could 'soak' up radioactivity

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (UPI) -- A new material shows promise for trappingand removing pollutants in water, especially heavy metals andradioactive waste, U.S. researchers say.

Present techniques are very effective for removing minerals such ascalcium and magnesium, which occur as positively charged ions in"hard" water, but many heavy metals and other inorganic pollutantsform negatively charged ions in water and are much more difficult toremove, researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, said.

Now UCSC chemists have developed a material that can soak upnegatively charged pollutants from water, a university releasereported Tuesday.

The new material could be used to treat polluted water through an ionexchange process similar to water softening, they said.

The researchers are focusing on the use of the material, dubbedSLUG-26, to trap the radioactive metal technetium, a major concern forlong-term disposal of radioactive waste.

Technetium, produced in nuclear reactors, has a half-life of 212,000years and can leach out of solid waste, making groundwatercontamination a serious concern.

"It's a problem because of its environmental mobility, so they neednew ways to trap it," chemistry Professor Scott Oliver said.

"Whether or not [SLUG-26] can be used in the real world is still to beseen, but so far it looks very promising," Oliver said.

 

Copyright 2011 by United Press International

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