During the operation of nuclear facilities, lots of radwaste oils and radwaste radioactive ion exchange resins are produced. The clearance of radwastes in Korea is regulated and governed by Nuclear Safety and Security Commission (NSSC) and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which specifies the regulated radionuclides and radioactive concentration limits in radioactive packages. 3H and 14C are elements of the regulated radionuclides. Therefore, a reliable, convenient and rapid analytical method for 3H and 14C should be developed to satisfy the NSSC and IAEA recommendations. In this study, we determined the radioactivity concentration of 3H and 14C in radwaste oils and radwaste radioactive ion exchange resins using a dry oxidation method for the separation of the nuclides in the samples. Samples were put into the temperature-profile programmed furnace. The outlet tube of furnace was connected with two bottles which are filled with 0.1 M HNO3 and amine solution in that order to sorb HTO and 14CO2 respectively. The HTO sorbed solution and 14CO2 sorbed amine solution were mixed with LSC cocktail solution to determine the radioactivity concentration of 3H(T) and 14C of the samples. We also analyze the 14CO2 sorbed amine solution with FT-IR to investigate the 14CO2 sorption mechanism in the amine solution. In summay, The developed dry oxidation method not only is practicable and reliable for the determination of radioactivity concentration of 3H and 14C in radwaste oils and radwaste radioactive ion exchange resins but also can be applied in future investigations for similarly radwastes.

Determination of 3H and 14C of radwaste oils and radwaste ion exchange resins from nuclear power plants using a dry oxidation method

251st National Meeting (2016)

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