Concept for a cyclonic spray scrubber as a fission product removal system for filtered containment venting

Abstract

The application of a cyclonic spray scrubber as a technology for filtered containment venting is proposed in this paper. This study has paired a mechanistic model for the kinetic particle coagulation of with Euler–Lagrange discrete particle simulations in order to predict particle decontamination factors. The continuous phase behavior has been investigated using computational fluid dynamics simulations together with phase Doppler anemometry measurements. Calculations show that spray scrubbing of radionuclide-bearing aerosols could be very effective, and predict that decontamination factors can be in excess of 106 for micron sized particles and excess of 103 for submicron particles. In the wake of the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, filtered containment venting is being viewed as an increasingly important severe accident mitigation technology. Cyclonic spray scrubbing could be implemented as a passive technology for decontaminating containment gases in an emergency prior to their discharge to the atmosphere, and is a novel approach for this application.