Technical Information on the Carbonation of the EBR-II Reactor, Summary Report Part 1: Laboratory Experiments and Application to EBR-II Secondary Sodium System

Residual sodium is defined as sodium metal that remains behind in pipes, vessels, and tanks after the bulk sodium metal has been melted and drained from such components. The residual sodium has the same chemical properties as bulk sodium, and differs from bulk sodium only in the thickness of the sodium deposit. Typically, sodium is considered residual when the thickness of the deposit is less than 5-6 cm. This residual sodium must be removed or deactivated when a pipe, vessel, system, or entire reactor is permanently taken out of service, in order to make the component or system safer and/or to comply with decommissioning regulations. As an alternative to the established residual sodium deactivation techniques (steam-and-nitrogen, wet vapor nitrogen, etc.), a technique involving the use of moisture and carbon dioxide has been developed. With this technique, sodium metal is converted into sodium bicarbonate by reacting it with humid carbon dioxide. Hydrogen is emitted as a by-product. This technique was first developed in the laboratory by exposing sodium samples to humidified carbon dioxide under controlled conditions, and then demonstrated on a larger scale by treating residual sodium within the Experimental Breeder Reactor II (EBR-II) secondary cooling system, followed by the primary cooling system, respectively. The EBR-II facility is located at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) in southeastern Idaho, U.S.A. This report is Part 1 of a two-part report. It is divided into three sections. The first section describes the chemistry of carbon dioxide-water-sodium reactions. The second section covers the laboratory experiments that were conducted in order to develop the residual sodium deactivation process. The third section discusses the application of the deactivation process to the treatment of residual sodium within the EBR-II secondary sodium cooling system. Part 2 of the report, under separate cover, describes the application of the technique to residual sodium treatment within the EBR-II primary sodium cooling system and related systems.