Radiolysis of seawater and hydrogen production in the presence of zeolites

Kumagai, Yuta   ; Nagaishi, Ryuji ; Kimura, Atsushi; Taguchi, Mitsumasa; Nishihara, Kenji  ; Yamagishi, Isao 

The accumulated water in Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Station contains salts from seawater and is treated by zeolite adsorbents. Thus, radiolysis of seawater and the hydrogen production in the presence of zeolites were studied. Seawater was irradiated by Co -rays. The produced amount of hydrogen and the concentration of hydrogen peroxide were measured. The concentrations of anions were also analyzed. The results show that the oxidation of hydrogen in aqueous phase was inhibited and the hydrogen by radiolysis totally transferred to the gas phase. Then, the hydrogen production in the presence of mordenite-type zeolite and zeolites supplied by KURION was investigated. The results show that the hydrogen production was suppressed by decreasing the amount of seawater. The difference among the zeolites was not significant. Therefore it was suggested that the hydrogen from the waste zeolite can be suppressed by maintaining the water content at low level.