In situ chemisorption of radiocesium from seawater

A novel approach to in situ extraction of Cs radionuclides from seawater is described which offers many advantages over previous methods. Cesium (stable and radioactive) is partially stripped from seawater as it passes in series through a tandem cartridge consisting of twin beds of ion exchange resin impregnated with cupric ferrocyanide. It is demonstrated that, when seawater passes through this cartridge at a constant flow-rate, collection efficiencies of each bed are the same, allowing the calculation of the seawater Cs nuclide concentration. The cartridge is made of inexpensive, readily available, PVC pipe fittings and is easily deployed under various field conditions. Procedures are described for resin preparation and desorption and radiochemical purification of the collected Cs. Thousands of liters of seawater can be stripped of Cs in this way, permitting substantial improvement in the sensitivity of measurement of ¹³⁴Cs and ¹³⁷Cs.