Zinc dosing for decontaminating light-water reactors
AssigneeRwe Power Aktiengesellschaft
InventorsDietmar NIEDER, David JORDAN
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The invention relates to a method for decontaminating a radioactively contaminated metal surface, wherein the metal surface is brought in contact with a decontamination solution, which comprises a complexing agent and a transition metal. The invention further relates to such a decontamination solution and to the use thereof to decontaminate a metal surface.
Claims12
A method for decontaminating a radioactively contaminated metal surface, comprising the step of:
- bringing at least a portion of the metal surface into contact with a decontamination solution comprising a complexing agent and a transition metal.
The method as per at least one of the preceding claims, wherein the concentration of the transition metal is in the range of from ≥0.5 to ≤15 mg/kg.
The method as per at least one of the preceding claims, wherein the transition metal is zinc and is present in a concentration in the range of from ≥2 to ≤5 mg/kg.
The method as per at least one of the preceding claims, wherein 58Co and/or 60Co ions are removed from the metal surface.
The method as per at least one of the preceding claims, wherein the decontamination solution is introduced into the primary circuit of a nuclear reactor.
The method as per at least one of the preceding claims, wherein the decontamination solution is circulated.
The method as per at least one of the preceding claims, wherein, as the first method step, the method comprises a pre-oxidation step or a reduction step for oxidizing or reducing the radioactively contaminated metal surface.
The method as per at least one of the preceding claims, wherein the method also comprises the step of:
- removing at least some of the radioactive isotopes present in the decontamination solution.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.