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Title: Measurements of the effects of humidity on radio-aerosol penetration through ultrafine capillaries

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to examine the effects of humidity on radio-aerosol penetration through ultrafine capillaries. A number of tests were conducted at relative humidities of 20%, 50%, and 80%, with sampling times of 20, 40, and 60 min. The radio-aerosol consisted of polystyrene particles with a diameter of 0.1 {micro}m. The ultrafine capillaries had a diameter of 250 {micro}m. The data from these tests varied significantly. These results made the identification of radio-aerosol penetration trends inconclusive. The standard deviation for all penetration data ranged from 3% to 30%. The results of this study suggest that a better control of the experimental parameters was needed to obtain more accurate data from experiments associated with radio-aerosol penetration in the presence of moisture. The experimental parameters that may have contributed to the wide variance of data, include aerosol flow, radio-aerosol generation, capillary characteristics, humidity control, and radiation measurements. It was the uncertainty of these parameters that contributed to the poor data which made conclusive deductions about radio-aerosol penetration dependence on humidity difficult. The application of this study is to ultrafine leaks resulting from stress fractures in high-level nuclear waste transportation casks under accident scenarios.

Authors:
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Missouri Univ., Columbia, MO (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Energy Research, Washington, DC (United States)
OSTI Identifier:
573154
Report Number(s):
DOE/OR/00033-T732
ON: DE97053609; TRN: 98:008597
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-76OR00033
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Resource Relation:
Other Information: TH: Thesis (M.S.); PBD: Aug 1996
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
05 NUCLEAR FUELS; RADIOACTIVE AEROSOLS; WASTE TRANSPORTATION; CAPILLARY FLOW; DIFFUSION; CONTAINERS; HUMIDITY; PERMEABILITY; LEAKS; HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES; RADIATION ACCIDENTS; EXPERIMENTAL DATA

Citation Formats

Cullen, C. Measurements of the effects of humidity on radio-aerosol penetration through ultrafine capillaries. United States: N. p., 1996. Web. doi:10.2172/573154.
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Cullen, C. Measurements of the effects of humidity on radio-aerosol penetration through ultrafine capillaries. United States. doi:10.2172/573154.
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Cullen, C. Thu . "Measurements of the effects of humidity on radio-aerosol penetration through ultrafine capillaries". United States. doi:10.2172/573154. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/573154.
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@article{osti_573154,
title = {Measurements of the effects of humidity on radio-aerosol penetration through ultrafine capillaries},
author = {Cullen, C.},
abstractNote = {The purpose of this research was to examine the effects of humidity on radio-aerosol penetration through ultrafine capillaries. A number of tests were conducted at relative humidities of 20%, 50%, and 80%, with sampling times of 20, 40, and 60 min. The radio-aerosol consisted of polystyrene particles with a diameter of 0.1 {micro}m. The ultrafine capillaries had a diameter of 250 {micro}m. The data from these tests varied significantly. These results made the identification of radio-aerosol penetration trends inconclusive. The standard deviation for all penetration data ranged from 3% to 30%. The results of this study suggest that a better control of the experimental parameters was needed to obtain more accurate data from experiments associated with radio-aerosol penetration in the presence of moisture. The experimental parameters that may have contributed to the wide variance of data, include aerosol flow, radio-aerosol generation, capillary characteristics, humidity control, and radiation measurements. It was the uncertainty of these parameters that contributed to the poor data which made conclusive deductions about radio-aerosol penetration dependence on humidity difficult. The application of this study is to ultrafine leaks resulting from stress fractures in high-level nuclear waste transportation casks under accident scenarios.},
doi = {10.2172/573154},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 1996},
month = {Thu Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 1996}
}
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Technical Report:
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DOI:  10.2172/573154
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