Synthesis of simulated cruds for development of decontaminating agents

Abstract

The Chalk River Unidentified Deposit (cruds) were classified into Types 1 and 2 based on the analyses of actual cruds from target objects such as steam generator (SG) of Korea and Japan Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR). A metal oxide or metal hydroxide was used to synthesize simulated cruds having chemical compositions and crystalline structure similar to the actual one by 12 different methods. CRUD 4 (metal oxides in the autoclave vessel) and CRUD 10 (metal oxides in a crucible after hydrazine pretreatment) were chosen as the best method for Types 1 and 2, respectively. These simulated cruds showed reasonable dissolubilities by dissolution tests using well-known decontaminating agents. As these cruds can be synthesized easily without using any specialized equipment or reagents in a short time and in large quantities, they are expected to stimulate the development of decontaminating agents and processes.