Radioactive kryptonates

Fine Leak Detection—using krypton radioactive gas—a beta and gamma emitter (See Ch. 6, Radiation Safety )... 

Krypton-85 has been used for over 25 years to measure the density of paper as it is amanufactured. The total weight of paper can be controlled to a very accurate degree by the use of krypton 85 and other radioactive nuclides. The common name for such a device is a beta gague that can measure the thickness of a material. 

Del y for Dec y. Nuclear power plants generate radioactive xenon and krypton as products of the fission reactions. Although these products ate trapped inside the fuel elements, portions can leak out into the coolant (through fuel cladding defects) and can be released to the atmosphere with other gases through an air ejector at the main condenser. 

To prevent such release, off gases are treated in Charcoal Delay Systems, which delay the release of xenon and krypton, and other radioactive gases, such as iodine and methyl iodide, until sufficient time has elapsed for the short-Hved radioactivity to decay. The delay time is increased by increasing the mass of adsorbent and by lowering the temperature and humidity for a boiling water reactor (BWR), a typical system containing 211 of activated carbon operated at 255 K, at 500 K dewpoint, and 101 kPa (15 psia) would provide about 42 days holdup for xenon and 1.8 days holdup for krypton (88). Humidity reduction is typically provided by a combination of a cooler-condenser and a molecular sieve adsorbent bed. 

Argon-40 [7440-37-1] is created by the decay of potassium-40. The various isotopes of radon, all having short half-Hves, are formed by the radioactive decay of radium, actinium, and thorium. Krypton and xenon are products of uranium and plutonium fission, and appreciable quantities of both are evolved during the reprocessing of spent fuel elements from nuclear reactors (qv) (see Radioactive tracers). 

Krypton and Xenon from Huclear Power Plants. Both xenon and krypton are products of the fission of uranium and plutonium. These gases are present in the spent fuel rods from nuclear power plants in the ratio 1 Kr 4 Xe. Recovered krypton contains ca 6% of the radioactive isotope Kr-85, with a 10.7 year half-life, but all radioactive xenon isotopes have short half-Hves. 

Adsorption of Radionuclides. Other appHcations that depend on physical adsorption include the control of krypton and xenon radionuchdes from nuclear power plants (92). The gases are not captured entirely, but their passage is delayed long enough to allow radioactive decay of the short-hved species. Highly rnicroporous coconut-based activated carbon is used for this service. 

The chemistry of xenon is much more extensive than that of any other noble gas. Only one binary compound of krypton. KrF2, has been prepared. It is a colorless solid that decomposes at room temperature. The chemistry of radon is difficult to study because all its isotopes are radioactive. Indeed, the radiation given off is so intense that it decomposes any reagent added to radon in an attempt to bring about a reaction. 

Since the discovery of the first noble gas compound, Xe PtF (Bartlett, 1962), a number of compounds of krypton, xenon, and radon have been prepared. Xenon has been shown to have a very rich chemistry, encompassing simple fluorides, XeF2> XeF, and XeF oxides, XeO and XeO oxyf luorides, XeOF2> XeOF, and Xe02 2 perxenates perchlorates fluorosulfates and many adducts with Lewis acids and bases (Bartlett and Sladky, 1973). Krypton compounds are less stable than xenon compounds, hence only about a dozen have been prepared KrF and derivatives of KrF2> such as KrF+SbF, KrF+VF, and KrF+Ta2F11. The chemistry of radon has been studied by radioactive tracer methods, since there are no stable isotopes of this element, and it has been deduced that radon also forms a difluoride and several complex salts. In this paper, some of the methods of preparation and properties of radon compounds are described. For further information concerning the chemistry, the reader is referred to a recent review (Stein, 1983). 

Delay for Decay A process for trapping radioactive gases (e.g., xenon, krypton, iodine) from nuclear power plants until their radioactivities have decayed to acceptable levels. Activated carbon is the usual adsorbent, and the gases are first dried with a zeolite. 

ISOTOPES There are a total of 37 isotopes of krypton. Six of these are stable Kr-78, Kr-80, Kr-82, Kr-83, Kr-84, and Kr-86. The isotope Kr-78 has such a long half-life (0.9x1 years) that it is considered stable even though it contributes only 0.35% to the natural krypton in the Earth s atmosphere. All the others are radioactive, man-made by-products of nuclear power plants and radioactive isotopes with half-lives ranging from 107 nanoseconds to 2.29x 10+ years. 

Krypton is expensive to produce, which limits its use as an inert gas. It is used in a mixture with argon to fill incandescent light bulbs, fluorescent lamps, lasers, and high-speed photography lamps. Radioactive Kr-85 is used as a source of radiation to measure the thickness of industrial materials. It is also used to test for leakage of scientific instruments. 

Krypton also may be recovered from spent fuel rods of nuclear power plants. It is produced, along with xenon, in fission of uranium and plutonium. This process, however, is not a major source of krypton, and the recovered gas also contains radioactive Kr-85 isotope. 

When dealing with small, hermetically sealed parts where the enclosure is leaky, krypton 85, a gaseous, radioactive isotope, can first be forced into the device by applying pressure from the outside. Once an exactly measured holding period has elapsed the pressure will be relieved, the component flushed and the activity of the gas charge will be measured. In the same way it is also possible to use helium as the test gas (see Section 5.7.4, bombing test). 

In 1911 Moureu and Lepape found that, although the neon, argon, krypton, and xenon in natural gases are always present in a fixed proportion, the proportion of helium to the other gases (since helium is continually being created by disintegration of radioactive elements) varies within wide limits. 

If the trapped gas is radioactive with a high gamma-ray emission, such as krypton-79, which has a half-life of 34 hrs, the clathrate may then... 

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