Preventive countermeasure of air purge tube blocking using a humidifier in the Tokai Reprocessing Plant

Yasuo, Kiyoshi ; Seto, Nobuhiko; Watahiki, Seiichi; Iwasaki, Shogo; Inami, Shinichi

The air purge method is applied to measure a liquid level and its density of a radioactive solution in a tank in the Tokai reprocessing plant. In this method, air purge tubes soaked in nitric acid solution are often blocked by depositing salt of nitrate. Dried air is usually used for the air purge system and this can be one of the reasons for generating salt on the tube point. Therefore, a series of experiment using a humidifier to humidify the air has been performed to prevent the blocking with salt, and the effect has been experimentally confirmed.