Restraint effect of coexisting nitrite ion in simulated high level liquid waste on releasing volatile ruthenium under boiling condition

Yoshida, Ryoichiro; Amano, Yuki; Yoshida, Naoki; Abe, Hitoshi

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 58(2), p.145 - 150, 2021/02

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2020.1825235

In the "evaporation and dryness due to the loss of cooling functions" which is one of the severe accidents at reprocessing plants in Japan, ruthenium (Ru) is possible to be released much more than other elements to the environment. This cause is considered that the volatile Ru compound can be released from high level liquid waste (HLLW) as gaseous compound in adding to the release by entrainment. It was expected that the release of the volatile Ru compound from the HLLW may be able to be restrained by coexisting nitrite ion because of its reduction power. To confirm the effect of nitrite ion on the release behavior of the volatile Ru compound, four experiments of heating the simulated HLLW (SHLLW) with setting the concentration of nitrite ion in the SHLLW as a parameter ware carried out. As a result, the release of the volatile Ru compound was seemed to be restrained by adding nitrite sodium as a source of nitrite ion under certain boiling condition. This result may contribute to improve source term analysis in the evaporation and dryness due to the loss of cooling functions.