Damage of cell ventilation filters in the fire and explosion incident of bituminization demonstration facility

Shigetome, Yoshiaki; not registered ; Yamanouchi, Takamichi; Oda, Yoshihiro ; not registered

At the fire and explosion incident of Bituminization Demonstration Facility, the fault of cell ventilation system (plugging of the HEPA filter) occurred in a short time. In addition the breakdown of the filter occurred at the explosion which happened ten hours after the extinguishment of the fire. Investigation of filter damage was conducted in order to know the extent of the breakdown, the contamination by radioactivity and soot mass gain of HEPA filter. Scanning electron micrograph (SEM) was also used to observe the appearance of soot adhesion on the filter media. This report shows the result of the investigation.