Deep Bed Adsorption Testing using Silver-Functionalized Aerogel

Abstract

Nuclear fission results in the production of fission products and activation products, some of which tend to be volatile during used fuel reprocessing and evolve in gaseous species into the reprocessing facility off-gas systems. Analyses have shown that I129, due to its radioactivity, high potential mobility in the environment, and high longevity (half life of 15.7 million years), can require control efficiencies of up to 1,000x or higher to meet regulatory emission limits. Two Aerogel sorption tests that have been performed this fiscal year. The maximum iodine decontamination factor (DF) was measured to be over 10,000, above the 1,000-10,000 target DF range. The mass transfer zone may be as short as 0.5 inches under the sorption conditions of the first test. Only a small fraction of the iodine sorbed on Bed 1 was desorbed during the purge periods. The silver-functionalized Aerogel appears to have potential to be a very effective and efficient iodine sorbent.