Xenon mitigation project - Phase I: adsorption materials

The xenon mitigation project aims at designing a mobile system for the reduction of radioxenon emissions from Radiopharmaceutical facilities. In this part of the project, the adsorbent materials for xenon capture were studied. Various adsorbent materials were studied. According to these studies, the most promising material, in the defined experimental conditions, is the Ag-ETS-10. The high xenon adsorption capacity at room temperature of the Ag-ETS-10 in comparison with activated carbon has the following important consequences: smaller volume required, lower shielding cost and can be used in normal operational conditions. The durability of the Ag-ETS-10 towards regeneration was studied by 14 successive desorption/adsorption cycles. The successive breakthrough curves showed no loss of adsorption efficiency. Due to the capability of the Ag-ETS-10 to highly concentrate radioxenon, the adsorbent will receive a high irradiation from the radioxenon. The resistance of the Ag-ETS-10 against irradiation was explored for the first time. After a 1 MGy gamma irradiation, the sample showed no degradation for xenon adsorption. A mixture of Ag-ETS-10 and activated carbon was studied in order to reduce the absorbed dose in operational conditions but should further be investigated before it could be used in practice.