Work Safety During Purification of Irradiated Beryllium by Chlorination

Abstract

The paper considers safety ensuring issues during the work at the plant intended for researching the technology of irradiated beryllium purification using chlorination method. Presented technology assumes handling beryllium and its compounds, chlorine and hydrogen chloride in compliance with the following safety aspects: radiation and toxic safety. Based on the results of the calculation of an expected dose and taking into account the requirements for the attended personnel, the allowable duration of maintenance the reaction chamber with the loaded irradiated beryllium sample was determined. The amount of radioactive beryllium in each cleaning cycle was determined from the point of view of the reasonable minimization (based on the safety rules) of the possible internal exposure of personnel due to the intake of gaseous tritium. The paper describes a unique way to measure the concentration of free chlorine by optical method and methods to protect the harmful effects of chlorine gas and hydrogen. The results of this study demonstrate possibility of safe technology implementation during preparation and conduction of experiments for the treatment of irradiated beryllium.