High sensitivity hydrogen analysis in zircaloy-4 using helium-assisted excitation laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy

Marincan Pardede,Ali Khumaeni,Mario Gracio Anduinta Rhizma,Eric Jobiliong,Ivan Tanra,Tjung Jie Lie,Zener Sukra Lie,Koo Hendrik Kurniawan,Mangasi Alion Marpaung,Rinda Hedwig,Kiichiro Kagawa,Muhandis Shiddiq,Javed Iqbal,Nasrullah Idris,Syahrun Nur Abdulmadjid,Muhammad Bilal,Davy Putra Kurniawan,Indra Karnadi,Maria Margaretha Suliyanti

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-01601-y

Abstract

High-sensitivity detection of hydrogen (H) contained in zircaloy-4, a commonly used material for nuclear fuel containers, is crucial in a nuclear power plant. Currently, H detection is performed via gas chromatography, which is an offline and destructive method. In this study, we developed a technique based on metastable excited-state He-assisted excitation to achieve excellent quality of H emission spectra in double-pulse orthogonal laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). The production of metastable excited-state He atoms is optimized by using LiF as sub-target material. The results show a narrow full-width-at-half-maximum of 0.5 Å for the H I 656.2 nm emission line, with a detection limit as low as 0.51 mg/kg. Thus, using this novel online method, H in zircaloy-4 can be detected efficiently, even at very low concentrations.

Highlights

High-sensitivity detection of hydrogen (H) contained in zircaloy-4, a commonly used material for nuclear fuel containers, is crucial in a nuclear power plant
Zircaloy tubes of approximately 10-mm diameter are used as radioactive fuel containers in nuclear power plants
The results showed that the detection limit of H in zircaloy could be as low as 0.51 mg/ kg, which is 20 times better than the previously reported limit[40]

Summary

Introduction

High-sensitivity detection of hydrogen (H) contained in zircaloy-4, a commonly used material for nuclear fuel containers, is crucial in a nuclear power plant. Despite the reasonably high H spectral quality obtained in previous experiments, the He gas plasma, which exhibited a typical orange color as a result of the He I 587.6 nm emission, suffered from instability when generated using atmospheric-pressure ambient He gas To overcome this problem, we changed the surrounding He gas pressure from atmospheric pressure to a low pressure of 3 kPa. To overcome this problem, we changed the surrounding He gas pressure from atmospheric pressure to a low pressure of 3 kPa Under this condition, H and D analysis could be performed with a detection limit of 10 mg/kg[39,40]. The results showed that the detection limit of H in zircaloy could be as low as 0.51 mg/ kg, which is 20 times better than the previously reported limit[40]

Methods

Results

Conclusion