Selective removal of 90Sr by a novel IDA-chelating resin from contaminated groundwater

•PS-IDA showed a high removal rate of Sr2+ at pH 10, reaching 97.8% and 99.6% for the removal of non-radioactive Sr2+ and radioactive 90Sr, respectively.•PS-IDA exhibited high selectivity and strong affinity for trace levels of 90Sr in simulative contaminated groundwater in the presence of 1013-1015 times higher concentrations of Na+, K+, Cs+, and Mg2+.•PS-based chelating sorbents with 300 μm particle size and goodmechanicalstrength can be promisingly loaded into the chromatographic column for large-scale treatment of water contaminated by 90Sr.