Polonium behavior following a vacuum window rupture in a lead-bismuth eutectic based accelerator driven system

Karlsson, Erik; Neuhausen, Jörg; Aerts, Alexander; Danilov, Ivan I.; Eichler, Robert; Türler, Andreas; Vögele, Alexander

doi:10.1016/j.apradiso.2020.109551

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Additional thermochromatography experiments were performed to investigate the transport and deposition of polonium in vacuum, with the goal to understand its behaviour in case of leaks enabling its migration into the proton beam guide of the MYRRHA accelerator. [44,57] This study revealed that under vacuum conditions no particularly volatile polonium species form. The experimental data can be fully explained by Monte Carlo Simulations assuming PbPo as transported species with an adsorption enthalpy of about -160 kJ/mol, similar to the value also obtained in gas thermochromatography.…”

Section: Recent Results: the Euratom H2020 Project Myrtementioning

confidence: 84%

Radionuclide Chemistry in Nuclear Facilities Based on Heavy Liquid Metal Coolants: Past, Present and Future

Neuhausen

2020

Chimia

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Heavy liquid metals such as lead and lead bismuth eutectic (LBE) are considered as spallation target material for next-generation neutron sources and as coolant of fast spectrum nuclear reactors that are developed to facilitate more efficient use of nuclear fuel as well as transmutation of long-lived nuclear waste. During the operation of such facilities, the heavy liquid metal will be activated by nuclear reactions. Additionally, fission product radionuclides may be introduced into the liquid metal from leaking fuel pins or by fission of the target nuclei in spallation. The chemical behaviour of these radioactive contaminants in the liquid metal – especially their immediate volatilization or volatilization of formed secondary compounds – may affect the safety of such facilities. The present article summarizes the activities of PSI's Laboratory of Radiochemistry towards a better understanding of the chemistry of potentially hazardous radionuclides in LBE and discusses aspects that need to be addressed in future to support the licensing of heavy liquid metal-based nuclear facilities.

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Section: Recent Results: the Euratom H2020 Project Myrtementioning

confidence: 84%

Radionuclide Chemistry in Nuclear Facilities Based on Heavy Liquid Metal Coolants: Past, Present and Future

Neuhausen

2020

Chimia

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“…No elemental lead or Te was detected from the XRD analysis. It is therefore strongly suggested that the Te that vaporized from the LBE was mainly in the form of PbTe, which to some extent confirmed that PbPo would be the main component in the cover gas in a real operating lead-based reactor [10,37,41,42]. By comparing the photographs of the SiO2 nanofiber membrane samples before and after the Te trapping experiment shown in Figure 3a,d, respectively, the successful capture By comparing the photographs of the SiO 2 nanofiber membrane samples before and after the Te trapping experiment shown in Figure 3a,d, respectively, the successful capture of either Te, Bi, or Pb was realized.…”

Section: Phase and Structural Analysis Of Lbe-tementioning

confidence: 80%

“…However, these methods are not applicable for removing polonium evaporated from liquid LBE. Without any prevention means, polonium on the surface of the liquid LBE and its vapor in the cover gas will diffuse out of the main system and be released into the atmosphere during reactor maintenance and coolant leakage accidents [10][11][12][13]. Therefore, removal of polonium from the gas phase needs to be seriously examined.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Removal of the Homolog Tellurium of Polonium by SiO2 Nanofiber Filter for Lead Alloy-Cooled Reactors

Chen

Zeng

et al. 2022

Toxics

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The lead–bismuth eutectic (LBE) can be easily activated by neutron radiation to produce the radionuclide 210Po. It is therefore necessary to establish an effective method to remove vaporized polonium in the cover gas to prevent its release into the air in scenarios of reactor maintenance and coolant leakage accidents. This paper presents a SiO2 nanofiber membrane prepared based on the electrostatic spinning and calcination process. The SiO2 nanofiber membrane had the advantages of good flexibility, high-temperature resistance, and corrosion resistance. In the trapping experiments, the SiO2 nanofiber membrane filters showed excellent filtration performance at 300~400 °C, and the filtration efficiencies for Te, Pb, and Bi could reach 99%, 99%, and 98%, respectively. Proper filtration temperature and gas flow rate are important to maintain high filtration efficiency. After five cycles, the SiO2 nanofiber membrane filter still exhibited excellent cycle-use performance. In the density functional theory (DFT) calculations, PbPo and PbTe had strong interactions with amorphous SiO2, having adhesion energies of −2.96 to −2.83 eV/molecule.

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Determination of 210Po generation from lead–bismuth eutectic irradiated with neutrons

Xue

et al. 2023

J Radioanal Nucl Chem

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Polonium behavior following a vacuum window rupture in a lead-bismuth eutectic based accelerator driven system

Cited by 4 publications

References 16 publications

Radionuclide Chemistry in Nuclear Facilities Based on Heavy Liquid Metal Coolants: Past, Present and Future

Radionuclide Chemistry in Nuclear Facilities Based on Heavy Liquid Metal Coolants: Past, Present and Future

Removal of the Homolog Tellurium of Polonium by SiO2 Nanofiber Filter for Lead Alloy-Cooled Reactors

Determination of 210Po generation from lead–bismuth eutectic irradiated with neutrons

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