Organic Iodine Adsorption by AgZ under Prototypical Vessel Off-Gas Conditions

Abstract

U.S. regulations will require the removal of 129I from the off-gas streams of any used nuclear fuel (UNF) reprocessing plant prior to discharge of the off-gas to the environment. Multiple off-gas streams within a UNF reprocessing plant combine prior to release, and each of these streams contains some amount of iodine. For an aqueous UNF reprocessing plant, these streams include the dissolver off-gas, the cell off-gas, the vessel off-gas (VOG), the waste off-gas and the shear off-gas. To achieve regulatory compliance, treatment of multiple off-gas streams within the plant must be performed. Preliminary studies have been completed on the adsorption of I2 onto silver mordenite (AgZ) from prototypical VOG streams. The study reported that AgZ did adsorb I2 from a prototypical VOG stream, but process upsets resulted in an uneven feed stream concentration. The experiments described in this document both improve the characterization of I2 adsorption by AgZ from dilute gas streams and further extend it to include characterization of the adsorption of organic iodides (in the form of CH3I) onto AgZ under prototypical VOG conditions. The design of this extended duration testing was such that information about the rate of adsorption, the penetration of the iodine species, and themore » effect of sorbent aging on iodine removal in VOG conditions could be inferred.« less