Cesium and Strontium Contamination of Nuclear Plant Stainless Steel: Implications for Decommissioning and Waste Minimization release_l4tjancjivhorp24likd4kpise

by Adam R. Lang, Dirk L. Engelberg, Clemens Walther, Martin Weiss, Hauke Bosco, Alex Jenkins, Francis R. Livens, Gareth Law

Published in ACS Omega by American Chemical Society (ACS).

2019   Volume 4, Issue 11, p14420-14429

Abstract

Stainless steels can become contaminated with radionuclides at nuclear sites. Their disposal as radioactive waste would be costly. If the nature of steel contamination could be understood, effective decontamination strategies could be designed and implemented during nuclear site decommissioning in an effort to release the steels from regulatory control. Here, batch uptake experiments have been used to understand Sr and Cs (fission product radionuclides) uptake onto AISI Type 304 stainless steel under conditions representative of spent nuclear fuel storage (alkaline ponds) and PUREX nuclear fuel reprocessing (HNO3). Solution (ICP-MS) and surface measurements (GD-OES depth profiling, TOF-SIMS, and XPS) and kinetic modeling of Sr and Cs removal from solution were used to characterize their uptake onto the steel and define the chemical composition and structure of the passive layer formed on the steel surfaces. Under passivating conditions (when the steel was exposed to solutions representative of alkaline ponds and 3 and 6 M HNO3), Sr and Cs were maintained at the steel surface by sorption/selective incorporation into the Cr-rich passive film. In 12 M HNO3, corrosion and severe intergranular attack led to Sr diffusion into the passive layer and steel bulk. In HNO3, Sr and Cs accumulation was also commensurate with corrosion product (Fe and Cr) readsorption, and in the 12 M HNO3 system, XPS documented the presence of Sr and Cs chromates.
In text/plain format

Archived Files and Locations

application/pdf  6.0 MB
file_dahmvis2tfcdbmnlnvv7rbp7z4
europepmc.org (repository)
web.archive.org (webarchive)
application/pdf  6.0 MB
file_3bdflkc25bemlji2ncgky2aquu
www.repo.uni-hannover.de (web)
web.archive.org (webarchive)
application/pdf  6.0 MB
file_3qiykxo2znfs5mrstgr6u3ngjm
helda.helsinki.fi (web)
web.archive.org (webarchive)
Read Archived PDF
Preserved and Accessible
Type  article-journal
Stage   published
Date   2019-08-26
Language   en ?
Container Metadata
Open Access Publication
In DOAJ
In Keepers Registry
ISSN-L:  2470-1343
Work Entity
access all versions, variants, and formats of this works (eg, pre-prints)
Catalog Record
Revision: 984a3d3e-16c3-4809-83ac-8e6c796dd789
API URL: JSON