THE CHARACTERISTICS AND PERFORMANCE OF SPENT ION EXCHANGE RESINS ARE BEING STUDIED, IN ORDER TO DECREASE THEIR SWELLING AND THE CRACKING OF CEMENT MATRICES WHERE THE ION EXCHANGE RESINS ARE INCORPORATED.

A STUDY SELECTED ION EXCHANGE RESINS IS BEING MADE TO KNOW THEIR DIFFERENCES SIZE AND PERFORMANCE IN FUNCTION OF THE NATURE OF CHEMICAL SPECIES, SATURATION DEGREES ETC...

DEWATERING EXPERIMENTS OF INACTIVE ION EXCHANGE RESINS WILL BE CARRIED OUT USING DIFFERENT TECHNIQUES (VACUUM FILTRATION, PRESSURE FILTRATION, ETC.) TO EVALUATE THE WATER CONTENT AND ITS POSSIBLE EFFECT ON THE SWELLING.

THE MAIN OBJECTIVES OF THIS R&D PROJECT WILL BE TO STUDY THE ION EXCHANGE RESINS SWELLING AND HOW TO INCREASE THE LOADING OF IX INTO CEMENT MATRICES.

1. BIBLIOGRAFIC REVIEW.
2. IDENTIFICATION OF SPANISH SPENT IX RESINS.
3. DEWATERING EXPERIMENTS.
4. PROPERTIES OF VARIOUS RESINS-CEMENT MIXTURES.
5. INTERACTION BETWEEN CEMENT AND IX MATERIALS.
6. FREEZE/THAW STABILITY.
7.LEACHING TESTS.
8. ENCAPSULATION OF INORGANIC ION EXCHANGERS (ZEOLITES).
9. FULL-SCALE TESTS.