The theoretical and experimental prediction of the decontamination factor during the treatment of nuclear waste solutions is generally a cumbersome problem due to their complex composition and extremely dangerous environment. Here, a methodology is proposed and experimentally validated allowing the prediction of the decontamination factor by carrying out experiments in small pilot installations in non-radioactive environment. These experiments provide the population density and the crystal growth data of the coprecipitating agent which serve for calculations according to the general relation presented in this paper. (C) 2010 The Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.