A study on the expulsion of iodine from spent-fuel solutions

Technical Report · Wed Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 1995

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/95663· OSTI ID:95663

Sakurai, Tsutomu; Takahashi, Akira; Ishikawa, Niroh ^[1]

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1. Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, Ibaraki-ken (Japan); and others

During dissolution of spent nuclear fuels, some radioiodine remains in spent-fuel solutions. Its expulsion to dissolver off-gas is important to minimize iodine escape to the environment. In our current work, the iodine remaining in spent-fuel solutions varied from 0 to 10% after dissolution of spent PWR-fuel specimens (approximately 3 g each). The amount remaining probably was dependent upon the dissolution time required. The cause is ascribable to the increased nitrous acid concentration that results from NOx generated during dissolution. The presence of nitrous acid was confirmed spectrophotometrically in an NO-HNO{sub 3} system at 100{degrees}C. Experiments examining NOx concentration versus the quantity of iodine in a simulated spent-fuel solution indicate that iodine (I{minus}) in spent fuels is subjected to the following three reactions: (1) oxidation into I{sub 2} by nitric acid, (2) oxidation into I{sub 2} by nitrous acid arising from NOx, and (3) formation of colloidal iodine (AgI, PdI{sub 2}), the major iodine species in a spent-fuel solution. Reaction (2) competes with reaction (3) to control the quantity of iodine remaining in solution. The following two-step expulsion process to remove iodine from a spent-fuel solution was derived from these experiments: Step One - Heat spent-fuel solutions without NOx sparging. When aged colloidal iodine is present, an excess amount of iodate should be added to the solution. Step Two - Sparge the fuel solution with NOx while heating. Effect of this new method was confirmed by use of a spent PWR-fuel solution.

• Research Organization: USDOE Assistant Secretary for Environment, Safety, and Health, Washington, DC (United States). Office of Environmental Guidance; Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC (United States). Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research; International Society of Nuclear Air Treatment Technologies, Inc., Batavia, OH (United States); Harvard Univ., Boston, MA (United States). Harvard Air Cleaning Lab.
• OSTI ID: 95663
• Report Number(s): NUREG/CP--0141; CONF-940738--; ON: TI95007828
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

05 NUCLEAR FUELS
COLLOIDS
DISSOLUTION
EMISSION
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
IODINE
IODINE 129
NITRIC ACID
NITROUS ACID
OXIDATION
SPENT FUELS