Patent Number: 046817050
Section: abstract

A method of decontaminating mixtures of radioactively contaminated water and radioactively contaminated water-immiscible organic liquids to produce a decontaminated organic liquid which can be disposed of in a conventional manner. The method comprises separating a mixture of radioactively contaminated water and a radioactively contaminated water-immiscible organic liquid into a waste water fraction carrying metal radionuclides and an organic liquid fraction carrying metal radionuclides; decontaminating the waste water fraction; mixing the radioactively contaminated organic liquid fraction with a sufficient amount of an aqueous solution of a water-soluble chelating agent in a manner and for a time period sufficient for water-soluble metal-chelate complexes to form between the chelating agent and substantially all of the metal radionuclides carried by the organic liquid fraction; separating the aqueous solution from the organic liquid fraction thereby removing the water-soluble metal-chelate complexes containing substantially all of the radionuclides from the organic liquid fraction, making the organic liquid safely disposable by conventional methods; and decontaminating the aqueous solution.