The Canadian programme on iodine chemistry in reactor safety

The Canadian program on iodine chemistry in reactor safety provides information needed to quantify and minimize iodine release to the environment following a postulated reactor accident. This comprehensive program consists of fundamental studies, bench-scale 'separate-effects' experiments, and intermediate-scale 'all-effects' integrated tests, to address the chemistry of iodine in the containment system, in-core studies, to address the high-temperature chemistry of fission products in UO2 fuel, and iodine abatement studies. Large-scale test data are obtained by participation in international projects such as ACE and PHEBUS-FP. The main focus of the program is the development and validation of the LIRIC model and database, used to predict iodine behaviour in various postulated accidents. The rationale for the program, its main elements, and recent progress are reviewed in this document. (authors)