Radioisotope Laboratory Testing

Mercury Removal from Air and Gas

Air and natural gas saturated with mercury tagged with radioactive mercury were each passed through a 1" diameter 6" deep test bed of MERSORB^® custon adsorbent. The bed was segmented into individual one inch sections. Adsorption capacity, mass transfer length and rate of travel were calculated by counting the radioactivity on each section. This technique also provides a facile method for determining the effects of adsorbent particle size, flow rate, temperature, etc. and provides a tool to better understand the removal process. This radioactive tracer technique can be applied to further the understanding of practically any adsorption process.

Kr, Xe Dynamic K Determination

The NUCON radioisotope laboratory can determine the Kr, Xe delay coefficients on activated carbon. The dynamic K value of carbon under defined parameters defines how long the noble gases will be held by the carbon. This allows for the accurate design of reactor off gas delay beds using radioactive tracer gas under desired conditions of temperature, flow and relative humidity (see NUREG 017). Flow through, real time detection of the tracer gas for this technique, is provided by custom instrumentation from the NUCON instrument department.

Radioiodine Testing of Adsorbents

NUCON provides radioiodine testing of adsorbents used in nuclear air cleaning systems as a service for nuclear power plants throughout the world and is recognized by the industry as leading experts in this area. Testing is provided that meets the requirements of U.S. NRC Regulatory Guides and ANSI/ASME standards in addition to applicable DIN and DNR and other European standards. NUCON personnel have been instrumental in development of these technical standards and have long term participation on the ASTM and ASME Standards Committees.