The present invention relates to a method for treating an aqueous liquid effluent containing calcium and carbonate ions and containing precipitation-inhibiting products, said process comprising the following successive steps: a) providing an aqueous liquid effluent supersaturated with CaCO.sub.3 and containing precipitation-inhibiting products; b) having the effluent obtained in step a) pass into a reactor with high solid content with a solid content maintained between 20 and 800 g/l and integrated solid-liquid separation, at a pH comprised between 8 and 9.2 allowing in a single step precipitation in situ of the aragonite polymorph of calcium carbonate and removal of the precipitation-inhibiting products; c) recovering an aqueous liquid supernatant containing a suspended solids content of less than or equal to 0.1% by mass of the solid content in the reactor, advantageously a suspended solids content of less than 50 mg/l, the precipitation-inhibiting products being phosphonates.

A mobile processing system is disclosed for the removal of radioactive contaminants from nuclear process waste water. The system is fully scalable, modular, and portable allowing the system to be fully customizable according the site-specific remediation requirements. It is designed to be both transported and operated from standard sized intermodal containers or custom designed enclosures for increased mobility between sites and on-site, further increasing the speed and ease with which the system may be deployed. Additionally, the system is completely modular wherein the various different modules perform different forms or stages of waste water remediation and may be connected in parallel and/or in series. Depending on the needs of the particular site, one or more different processes may be used. In some embodiments, one or more of the same modules may be used in the same operation.

A water treatment system including a filter compartment having a filter material adapted for removing at least one of neutrons and alpha particles from water. The filter material may comprise at least one of paraffin, cadmium, and bismuth. The filter compartment can also have a second filter material adapted for removing at least one of chloride ions and transmuted chlorine ions from the water. The second filter material may comprise at least one of coconut carbon, silicon dioxide, and ionized sand. The system can further include a container downstream of the filter compartment, the container having paraffin therein. Additionally, the system can include an absorptive manifold designed for absorbing hydrogen ions and reducing the pH of the water. A method for treating contaminated water using the water treatment system is also provided.

An iron containing bioreactor for treating explosive compounds and other organics in contaminated surface water is disclosed. The bioreactor can be located either on-ground or in-ground at a location across which contaminated surface water flows. In one configuration the reactor is made up of (i) indigenous microbes, (ii) acetate, (iii) a low density iron-containing bed, and contains anaerobic zones in at least one portion of the flowpath. The reactor reduces the concentration of explosive compounds to below 10 ppb and also maintains this explosive compound reduction level for a period of at least one year without replenishing the microbes or iron.

Novel iron-phosphate nanoparticles have been synthesized here. These are less than 12 nanometers in dimension. They are deemed useful for remediation of heavy metals and radionuclides and can be applied to insitu remediation of contaminated soils and contaminated waters.

A mobile processing system is disclosed for the removal of radioactive contaminants from nuclear process wastewater. The system is fully scalable, modular, and portable allowing the system to be fully customizable according to site-specific remediation requirements. It is designed to be both transported and operated from standard sized intermodal containers or custom designed enclosures for increased mobility between sites and on-site, further increasing the speed and ease with which the system may be deployed. Additionally, the system is completely modular wherein the various modules perform different forms or stages of wastewater remediation and may be connected in parallel and/or in series. Depending on the needs of the site, one or more different processes may be used. In some embodiments, one or more of the same modules may be used in the same operation.

Ion-selective separation by shock electrodialysis is performed by applying a voltage differential between electrodes across a porous medium to selectively draw a first species in a liquid toward at least one of the electrodes to a greater degree than a degree to which a second species in the liquid is drawn toward the same electrode. The voltage differential creates a shock in the charged-species concentration in the bulk volume of the liquid within pore channels of the porous medium, wherein the concentration of the first species in a depleted zone of the liquid bulk volume between the shock and the ion-selective boundary is substantially lower than the concentration of the second species in the liquid bulk volume between the shock and the first electrode. A dilute stream including the second species is extracted from the depleted zone separate from a concentrated stream including the first species.

The recovery of target species, and related systems and methods, are generally described.

The present invention discloses a method for the separation of radionuclides from an aqueous radioactive waste solution, the method comprising: receiving of an aqueous radioactive waste solution, adding at least one zirconium salt to the aqueous radioactive waste solution, changing the pH of the radioactive waste solution to obtain a precipitate P, and separating the precipitate P from the radioactive waste solution. The present invention also discloses the use of zirconium salts, preferably zirconium oxychloride, zirconium nitrate or a zirconium oxynitrate or any mixture thereof, for the treatment of aqueous radioactive waste solution, preferably acidic or alkaline intermediate or low level radioactive waste solution, preferably an acidic intermediate and/or low level radioactive waste solution.