Manufacture, Installation and Application of a Wet-Experimental and Optical Glove Box for Experiments under the Simulated Deep Underground Atmosphere

This report describes the construct, application and performance of the glove box installed in a laboratory in order to make a similar experimental condition with the underground atmosphere for a exact prediction of behaviors of radioactive nuclides in a deep underground. Especially, the specification of the new glove box (combined wet-experimental and optical boxes) purchased in 2008, a electrochemical-experiment equipment built in the glove box and optical equipment scheduled to be build in 2009 are explained in detail. The new glove box can rapidly decrease the oxygen content by using Pd catalyst powder. The concentration of water and oxygen inside of the optical box is able to be lowered less than 1 ppm. Additionally T-antechamber located between wet-experimental and optical boxes enables samples to be transferred between two boxes without contact with air. Thus the samples prepared in the wet-experimental box are immediately moved to the optical box, and the concentration and species of nuclides in them can analyzed. An electrochemical reaction cell was equipped in the wet-experimental box at present for the solubility measurement of radioactive nuclides, and it could be also used for the measurement of sorption properties of nuclides on clay and rocks under a reducing condition. Laser -Induced Breakdown Detection (LIBD) system will be installed in this year