Radioactive Iodine and Krypton Control for Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing Facilities

Journal Article · Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2013 · Science and Technology of Nuclear Installations (Print)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/702496· OSTI ID:1126744

Soelberg, Nick R. ^[1]; Garn, Troy G. ^[1]; Greenhalgh, Mitchell R. ^[1]; Law, Jack D. ^[1]; Jubin, Robert ^[2]; Strachan, Denis M. ^[3]; Thallapally, Praveen K. ^[3]

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1. Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID 83415, USA
2. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA
3. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA 99252, USA

The removal of volatile radionuclides generated during used nuclear fuel reprocessing in the US is almost certain to be necessary for the licensing of a reprocessing facility in the US. Various control technologies have been developed, tested, or used over the past 50 years for control of volatile radionuclide emissions from used fuel reprocessing plants. The US DOE has sponsored, since 2009, an Off-gas Sigma Team to perform research and development focused on the most pressing volatile radionuclide control and immobilization problems. In this paper, we focus on the control requirements and methodologies for⁸⁵Kr and¹²⁹I. Numerous candidate technologies have been studied and developed at laboratory and pilot-plant scales in an effort to meet the need for high iodine control efficiency and to advance alternatives to cryogenic separations for krypton control. Several of these show promising results. Iodine decontamination factors as high as 10⁵, iodine loading capacities, and other adsorption parameters including adsorption rates have been demonstrated under some conditions for both silver zeolite (AgZ) and Ag-functionalized aerogel. Sorbents, including an engineered form of AgZ and selected metal organic framework materials (MOFs), have been successfully demonstrated to capture Kr and Xe without the need for separations at cryogenic temperatures.

• Research Organization: Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE - NE
• DOE Contract Number: DE-AC07-05ID14517
• OSTI ID: 1126744
• Report Number(s): INL/JOU-13-28481
• Journal Information: Science and Technology of Nuclear Installations (Print), Vol. 2013; ISSN 1687-6075
• Publisher: Hindawi
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MGMT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
iodine
krypton
reprocessing facility off-gas control
xenon