Abatement of xenon and iodine emissions from medical isotope production facilities

Abstract

The capability of the International Monitoring System (IMS) to detect xenon from underground nuclear explosions is dependent on the radioactive xenon background. Adding to the background, medical isotope production (MIP) by fission releases several important xenon isotopes including xenon-133 and iodine-133 that decays to xenon-133. The amount of xenon released from these facilities may be equivalent to or exceed that released from an underground nuclear explosion. Thus the release of gaseous fission products within days of irradiation makes it difficult to distinguish MIP emissions from a nuclear explosion. In addition, recent shortages in molybdenum-99 have created interest and investment opportunities to design and build new MIP facilities in the United States and throughout the world. Due to the potential increase in the number of MIP facilities, a discussion of abatement technologies provides insight into how the problem of emission control from MIP facilities can be tackled. A review of practices is provided to delineate methods useful for abatement of medical isotopes.

Microbial copper reduction method to scavenge anthropogenic radioiodine

“…The growing amount of radionuclides and radioactive wastes from various nuclear and medical fields is causing public concern due to their short- and long-term radiotoxic impact on nature1234. In particular, the anthropogenic radioiodine that has been released into nature for decades has become a key issue due to its global recycling567, which affects the worldwide ecosystem and human health89.…”

“…In particular, the anthropogenic radioiodine that has been released into nature for decades has become a key issue due to its global recycling567, which affects the worldwide ecosystem and human health89. Anthropogenic iodine radioisotopes mainly originate from human activities that are performed in the nuclear, industrial, and medical fields12389. The radioisotopes are damaging to human health because of their active participation in human metabolic processes.…”

Capture of harmful radioactive contaminants from off-gas stream using porous solid sorbents for clean environment – A review

“…Activated carbon (AC) is used worldwide as an effective sorbent due to its high surface area and pore size. The capacity of AC can be enhanced by several techniques such as the selection of raw materials (coal, bamboo, coconut and walnut shells) used to synthesize the AC, method of preparation and activation, and impregnation of other compounds and entities (triethylenediamine TEDA and silver), changing functional group and phenolic group [35][36][37][38][39]. Park et al [35,36] reported on the adsorption of methyl iodide on AC and TEDAimpregnated AC in a continuous gas phase system.…”

Comparative Analysis of Direct and Indirect ¹³¹I Measurement Methods from the Stack to Outdoor

“…The direct method was conducted by direct measurement of the 131 I air concentration from the stack with an LaBr3 (lanthanum (III) bromide) scintillation detector. The indirect method was performed by using activated charcoal filter (charcoal) [15,16]. The concentration of 131 I adsorbed in the charcoal was detected by scintillation detector of NaI(Tl) in a research laboratory.…”

“…Efficiency calibration was conducted by converting the measurement results of the count rate of radiation standard sources in counts per second (cps) to the activity in becquerels (Bq). The counting efficiency of the LaBr3 detector was calculated using equation (1) [16]:…”