Role of alkyl alcohol on viscosity of silica-based chemical gels for decontamination of highly radioactive nuclear facilities

Conference · Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2012

OSTI ID:22107872

Choi, B. S.; Yoon, S. B.; Jung, C. H.; Lee, K. W.; Moon, J. K. ^[1]

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1. Div. of Decontamination and Decommissioning Technology Development, Korea Atomic Energy Research Inst., Daedeok-daero 989-111, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 305-353 (Korea, Republic of)

Silica-based chemical gel for the decontamination of nuclear facilities was prepared by using fumed silica as a viscosifier, a 0.5 M Ce (IV) solution dissolved in concentrated nitric acid as a chemical decontamination agent, and tripropylene glycol butyl ether (TPGBE) as a co-viscosifier. A new effective strategy for the preparation of the chemical gel was investigated by introducing the alkyl alcohols as organic solvents to effectively dissolve the co-viscosifier. The mixture solution of the co-viscosifier and alkyl alcohols was more effective in the control of viscosity than that of the co-viscosifier only in gel. Here, the alkyl alcohols played a key role as an effective dissolution solvent for the co-viscosifier in the preparation of the chemical gel, resulting in a reducing of the amount of the co-viscosifier and gel time compared with that of the chemical gel prepared without the alkyl alcohols. It was considered that the alkyl alcohols contributed to the effective dissolution of the co-viscosifier as well as the homogeneous mixing in the formation of the gel, while the co-viscosifier in an aqueous media of the chemical decontamination agent solution showed a lower solubility. The decontamination efficiency of the chemical gels prepared in this work using a multi-channel analyzer (MCA) showed a high decontamination efficiency of over ca. 94% and ca. 92% for Co-60 and Cs-137 contaminated on surface of the stainless steel 304, respectively. (authors)

• Research Organization: American Nuclear Society, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (United States)
• OSTI ID: 22107872
• Resource Relation: Conference: ICAPP '12: 2012 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants, Chicago, IL (United States), 24-28 Jun 2012; Other Information: Country of input: France; 8 refs.; Related Information: In: Proceedings of the 2012 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants - ICAPP '12| 2799 p.
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE WASTES, AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
BUTYL ETHER
CERIUM
CESIUM
CESIUM 137
COBALT 60
DECONTAMINATION
DISSOLUTION
GELS
GLYCOLS
HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
MULTI-CHANNEL ANALYZERS
NITRIC ACID
ORGANIC SOLVENTS
SILICA
SILICA GEL
STAINLESS STEEL-304
VISCOSITY