Parametric studies of radiolytic oxidation of iodide solutions with and without paint: comparison with code calculations

In case of severe nuclear accident, radioactive material may be released into the environment. Among the fission products involved, are the very volatile iodine isotopes. However, the chemical forms are not well known due to the presence of different species in the containment with which iodine may rapidly react to form aerosols, molecular iodine, hydroiodic acid and iodo-organics. Tentative explanations of different mechanisms were performed through benchscale tests. A series of tests has been performed at AEA Harwell (GB) to study parameters such as pH, dose rate, concentration, gas flow rate, temperature in relation to molecular iodine production, under dynamic conditions. Another set of tests has been performed in AECL Whiteshell (CA) to study the behaviour of painted coupons, standing in gas phase or liquid phase or both, with iodine compounds under radiation. The purpose of our paper is to synthesize the data and compare the results to the IODE code calculation. Some parameters of the code were studied to fit the experimental result the best. A law, concerning the reverse reaction of iodide radiolytic oxidation, has been proposed versus: pH, concentrations and gas flow-rate. This law does not apply for dose rate variations. For the study of painted coupons, it has been pointed out that molecular iodine tends to be adsorbed or chemically absorbed on the surface in gas phase, but the mechanism should be more sophisticated in the aqueous phase. The iodo-organics present in liquid phase tend to be partly or totally destroyed by oxidation under radiation (depending upon the dose delivered). These points are discussed. (author) 18 figs., 3 tabs., 15 refs