The emission of off-gas streams from used fuel recycling is a concern in nuclear energy usage as they contain radioactive compounds, such as, 3H, 14C, 85Kr, 131I, and 129I that can be harmful to human health and environment. Radioactive iodine, 129I, is particularly troublesome as it has a half-life of more than 15 million years and is prone to accumulate in human thyroid glands. Organic iodides are hazardous even at very low concentrations, and hence the capture of 129I is extremely important. Dynamic adsorption experiments were conducted to determine the efficiency of sodium mordenite, partially exchanged silver mordenite, and fully exchanged silver mordenite for the removal of methyl iodide present at parts per billion concentrations in a simulated off-gas stream. Kinetic analysis of the system was conducted incorporating the effects of diffusion and mass transfer. The possible reaction mechanism is postulated and the order of the reaction and the values of the rate constants were determined from the experimental data. Adsorbent characterization is performed to investigate the nature of the adsorbent before and after iodine loading. This paper will offer a comprehensive understanding of the methyl iodide behavior when in contact with the mordenites.

As a rule, geological disposal is considered a safe method for final disposal of high-level radioactive waste. However, some long-lived fission products like 99Tc and 129I contained in spent nuclear fuel are highly mobile as less sorbing anionic species in the subsurface environment and can mainly cause exposure dose to the ecosystem by emission of beta rays in the hundreds of keV range. Therefore, if these two nuclides can be separated and converted with high efficiency into radioactively unharmful nuclides, this would have a positive effect on disposal safety. One candidate method is to transmute these two nuclides in nuclear reactors into short-lived nuclides or into stable nuclides. For this purpose, it is necessary to evaluate which reactor type is more efficient in burning these two nuclides. In this study, the simulation results of nuclear transmutation of 99Tc and 129I in light water reactor (PWR), heavy water reactor (CANDU) and fast neutron reactor (SFR, MET-1000) are compared and discussed.

원전에서 발생되고 있는 방사성폐기물 중 I의 정량을 위하여 시료의 특성에 맞는 최적의 시료 전처리 및 회수방법을 고찰하였다. 난용성시료 중 모의 잡고체와 수지에 함유된 요오드를 산침출법과 알칼리 용융방법으로 분리하여 회수율을 측정한 결과 , 의 회수율을 각각 나타내었다. 모의 농축폐액 중 1291를 pH 7의 음이온 수지에 흡착시켜 선택적으로 분리한 후 회수율을 측정한 결과 의 회수율을 나타내었다. 폐액 중 함유되어있는 고 농도의 붕소가 요오드 회수율에 미치는 영향을 조사한 결과 1,200 g/mL 이하의 붕소는 I의 분리 및 정량에 영향을 주지 않았다. 원전 내 현장시료인 폐수지 중 I 회수율을 칼럼용리방법으로 분리 후 측정한 결과 (RSD, )를 나타내었다.