ForTheDoers Blog
Nuclear Waste Solutions: A Key Aspect of Responsible Nuclear Power Usage
NURES® – Technology for Radionuclide Removal
NURES® treats radioactive liquids with a higher selectivity and to a smaller waste volume compared to any competing organic resin or inorganic ion exchanger on the market.
Cost Savings
A custom solution tailored to significantly reduce your interim and final storage volumes of radioactive waste
Robust and Effective
High purification levels with many different liquid characteristics
Customisable
A tailored solution for your needs
100% Inorganic
Stable during interim storge and compatible to most solidification recipes
Our NURES® references
CsTreat®
SrTreat®
CoTreat®
SbTreat®
NURES® purifies your radioactive liquids
Fortum’s NURES® ion exchange technology purifies radioactive liquids providing high volume reduction of the final waste with lower costs. It is based on patented, 100% inorganic, highly selective ion exchange (“IX”) materials. The Treat-series IX materials have been developed from a nuclear power plant operator’s perspective and been in use since the 1980s.
High performance in challenging conditions
The performance of NURES® technology is proven effective in the most challenging conditions at our customers’ installations, including the liquid treatment at the Fukushima Daiichi site where extremely stringent purification criteria have been applied. With several different applications in which the technology is deployed, including both large scale nuclear facility needs as well as small laboratory scale solutions, the technology is proven to be adjustable to fit perfectly for different customer needs and demands. We strive to deliver the best possible radionuclide purification technology to our customers with continuous R&D activities and product development.
Full system deliveries for liquid waste treatment
In addition to the NURES® ion exchange materials, Fortum has a large pool of engineers in-house specialized in nuclear industry projects. The combination of the NURES® materials, deep knowledge about liquid waste treatment, chemical behavior and high-level engineering enables full system deliveries that can be tailored for each operators’ needs.
What is NURES®?
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NURES® Publications
The following NURES® Publications are free to download, but we would like to better serve you by getting the contact information of those interested in our products. Please fill out the below form, and you will be redirected to our downloads page.
Available publications:
- Lerche, Martin - Pasi, Anna-Elina - Ketolainen, Antti (2025) Customizing Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment - Case Studies from Laboratory to Large Scale Systems . WM'25 Conference, March 9 - March 13, 2025, Phoenix, AZ.
- Tusa, Esko - Efficiency Of Fortum's CsTreat® And SrTreat® In Cesium And Strontium Removal In Fukushima Daiichi NPP, ENC2014, European Nuclear Conference, 11-14 May 2014, Marseille, France
- Tusa, Esko - Harjula, Risto - Yarnell, Peter (2007) Fifteen Years of Operation with Inorganic Highly Selective Ion Exchange Materials. WM'07 Conference, February 25 - March 1, 2007, Tucson, AZ.
- Tajiri, H - Mimori, K - Miyajima, K. - Uchikoshi, T. - Mizubayashi, H. Tusa, E. (2000) Experience of Test Operation for Removal of Fission Product Nuclides in TRU-Liquid Waste and Concentrated Nitric Acid Using Inorganic Ion Exchangers. WM'00 Conferenc
- Harjula, Risto - Paajanen, Airi - Lehto, Jukka - Tusa, Esko and Standring, Paul (2003) Testing of CoTreat Inorganic Ion Exchange Media for the Removal of Co-60 from Thorp Pond Water. WM'03 Conference, February 23-27, 2003, Tuscon, AZ.
- Lehto, Jukka - Brodkin, Leena - Harjula, Risto and Tusa, Esko (1999) Separation of Radioactive Strontium from Alkaline Nuclear Waste Solutions with the Highly Effective Ion Ex-changer SrTreat, Nuclear Technology, vol. 127 July 1999, pp. 81-87.
Data for the ion exchange materials: CsTreat, SrTreat, CoTreat and SbTreat
| CsTreat® | CoTreat® | SrTreat® | SbTreat® |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Removes | Cesium (Cs-134, Cs-137) | Radioactive Cobalt | Strontium | Antimony (Sb-122, Sb-124, and Sb-125) |
Can also be used for |
| corrosion products (e.g. Mn-54, Fe-59, Ni-63, Zn-65), transuraniums (e.g. Pu-236) | Pu, Zn | Tc-99 (pertechnetate) |
Not disturbing conditions | High salt concentrations | High salt concentrations | High salt concentrations | High salt concentrations |
Most disturbing factors | Potassium | pH, colloids, Calcium | Calcium, Magnesium | Phosphate |
Based on | Ferrocyanide | Titanium Oxide | Titanium Oxide | Zirconium Oxide |
Inorganic | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Stable | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Format | Solid granules | Solid granules | Solid granules | Solid granules |
Bulk density, kg/l | 0.67 | 1 | 0.88 | 0.67 |
Grain size typically, mm | 0.25 - 0.85 | 0.30 - 0.85 | 0.30 - 0.85 | 0.25 - 0.85 |
other size options, mm | < 0.15 mm or 0.15 - 0.25 mm | < 0.15 mm or 0.15 - 0.25 mm | < 0.15 mm or 0.15 - 0.25 mm | < 0.15 mm or 0.15 - 0.25 mm |
Decontamination factor typically | 1000-10000, highest achieved 8,000,000 | 10 - 2000 | 200-2000, highest achieved 165,000,000 | 20 - 1000 |
Capacity, BV and l/kg | Depends on liquid composition, can be calculated from chemical parameters | |||
Operating pH area | 1-13 | 4-8 (optimal 5-7) | >7 (optimal >10) | 1-13 (optimal <8) |
Max. operating temperature, °C | 80 | 300 | 300 | 200 |
Suitable for both column or bed operations | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Service flow rate typically, BV/h | 10-20 | 10-20 | 10-20 | 10-20 |