Decontamination of radioactive metals

A process for the recovery of metals in a carbonate or hydroxide form from volumetrically contaminated radioactive metals, wherein the process comprises the steps of:

• A) dissolving the radioactive metals in an acid solution containing about 0.5 to about 2.0% by weight, based on the weight of radioactive metals, of an iron salt or iron oxide or combination thereof to obtain a first solution;
• B) neutralizing the first solution from step A) to a pH of about 4.5 to about 5 with at least one base to obtain a first slurry containing precipitated ferric hydroxide;
• C) treating the first slurry obtained in step B) with hydrogen peroxide, to oxidize any oxidizable nucleotides present, and with an alkali metal fluoride to obtain a second slurry;
• D) filtering the second slurry of step C) to remove the precipitated ferric hydroxide and any impurities absorbed on the precipitated ferric hydroxide and to obtain a filtrate;
• E) passing the filtrate from step D) through an anion exchange column maintained at a temperature of below about 35° C. so as to absorb nucleotides onto said anion exchange column to obtain an eluent;
• F) adjusting the pH of the eluent of step E) to a pH of from about 10 to about 11 with at least one base selected from the group consisting of alkali metal hydroxides and alkali metal carbonates to obtain a product;
• and
• G) filtering the product from step F) to recover metals in a carbonate or hydroxide form.