Decontamination reagents

Improved effluent management to process decontamination reagents... 

Spillages should be cleared up immediately and adequate supplies of suitable decontaminant liquid should be readily available for this purpose. The following three types of decontamination reagents are recommended as alternatives ... 

Early decontamination reagents usually were based on traditional steel descaling solutions, such as mixtures of mineral acids (e. g. nitric acid-hydrofluoric acid). 

Sellers, R. M. The radiation chemistry of nuclear reactor decontaminating reagents. Radial. Phys. Chem. 21, 295-305 (1983)... 

Although advances have been made in decontamination technology, further improvements in decontamination reagent formulation and application must be sought. Among the important issues that require further attention are the following ... 

Decontamination reagents function by dissolving oxide films and particles. This dissolution process liberates the radioactive constituents of the oxides, facilitating the removal of the activity from the system undergoing decontamination. The nature of the oxides that form in the primary coolant circuits of water cooled nuclear reactors depends both upon the materials of construction and operating conditions. In most instances, these oxides are predominantly magnetite or a related ferrite. 

This report describes a fundamental investigation of the mechanism and kinetics of magnetite dissolution. The work discussed in this paper emphasised the electrochemical nature of the magnetite dissolution reaction (MDR). This report describes the effect of temperature, pH, decontamination reagent formulation and mass transport upon the MDR. 

J.L. Smee, Reformulation of the LOMI Chemical Decontamination Reagent-Reduction in the Picolinic Acid/Vanadous Formate Ratio EPRI NP - 7276 Final Report(1991)PP2-1,2. 

---