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The application of radiotracers in the leak detection of underground pipes

Conference · · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States)
OSTI ID:6474353
;  [1]
  1. Institute of Nuclear Energy Research, Lung-Tan (Taiwan, Province of China)
Leaks in chemical processing plants can be both expensive and dangerous. Leakage into the subsoil from underground pipes may cause environmental problems, but it is very difficult to locate the leak area in underground pipes. The development of radioactive techniques has greatly facilitated the detection of underground pipe leakages. The use of radioactive tracers affords an extremely sensitive means of measurement and permits the detection of tracers in low concentrations. The radiotracer method discussed in this paper was applied to five 6- to 12-in.-i.d., 70-m-long underground pipes that collect the water and/or oil from a large petrochemical processing plant in Taiwan. Bromine-82 was chosen as the tracer for this experiment because it emits gamma rays, can be prepared easily, and has a convenient half-life. The underground pipe was filled with an ammonium [sup 82]Br aqueous solution, and the system was kept closed for 2 to 3 h to ensure the free flow of the radiotracer through leak areas into the surrounding soil.
OSTI ID:
6474353
Report Number(s):
CONF-920919--
Conference Information:
Journal Name: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States) Journal Volume: 65:1
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English