Capture of iodine in suppression pools

The effectiveness of boiling water reactor pressure suppression pools in capturing airborne iodine species was investigated. A computer code was used to simulate the scrubbing of particulate iodide, vapor elemental iodine, and vapor organic iodides. For a typical postulated severe core damage accident sequence, suppression pools were effective scrubbers of elemental iodine if the pool was alkaline or dilute in iodine and of particles > 1.5 μM mass median diameter. Little scrubbing of organic iodide species occurred. An absorption model shows that elemental iodine can be absorbed by wet alkaline droplets before the droplets encounter the suppression pool. Thus, the iodine removal effectiveness of the pools is likely to be controlled by particle scrubbing