A procedure for the continuous control of the retention properties of gas adsorber systems

Abstract

The retention of the radioactive noble gases takes place on the charcoal adsorber by dynamic adsorption, meanwhile their radioactivity decrease according to their half-life-times. For the optimal operation of the adsorber units the on-line control and analysis of the retention properties would be required. Therefore a procedure has been developed for the determination of the retention times and the dynamic adsorption coefficients for the specific noble gas isotopes. The method is based on the continuous analysis of the in- and out-flow of the adsorber system by γ-ray spectroscopy using semiconductor detectors. After the successful laboratory test, the procedure was installed and the retention properties of a charcoal based radioactive gas adsorber system were determined. For the evaluation of the data, a theoretical model was developed, which was used for the calculation of the dynamic retention coefficients of the noble gas isotopes.