Experimental Study of Capturing and Encapsulating Radioactive Aerosol by Ultrasonic Atomization

In nuclear facilities' decommission, the radioactive aerosol that generated in decontaminated the hot spot by mechanical stripping contained amout of dust and had a high radioactive concentration. The aerosol must be pre-treated for operator's health. This article was concerned with the simulative aerosol's treatment with ultrasonic atomizing technology. The test showed that the capture liquid had higher capture rate of the aerosol particle when the surface active agent is 2.0% ∼ 2.5% wt for it's lower surface tension. The ²⁴¹Am aerosol generated in decontaminated by mechanical stripping had a radioactive concentration of 5.16E + 4 Bq/m³ and contained amount of loose contaminated dust. The ²⁴¹ Am radioactive concentration decreased to 1.74 Bq/m³ after encapsulating by atomizing the selected capture liquid. This showed the capture liquid had good result in capturing the aerosol particle. The radioactive concentration in the glove-boxes was 2.31 Bq/m³ at seventh day. The radioactive concentration increased to 5.14 Bq/m³ after the aerosol was disturbed by ventilation and the resuspension rate was 0.005%. The test rest indicated that the selected capture liquid had good encapsulating result for this kind of aerosol. (authors)