Gas Chromatography as Applied to Nuclear Technology—I

Gas chromatography was used to identify and to determine volatile products from the Homogeneous Reactor Test and from the processing of nuclear fuels and wastes. A gas Chromatograph was constructed and used for part of the separations. It differs from conventional chromatographs in having an all-Pyrex gas-sampling system and all-Pyrex columns for use in the analysis of corrosive gases, that is, the oxides and chlorides of nitrogen. Temperature programming of the molecular-sieves column was used to advantage in the determination of the oxides of nitrogen and of carbon. The effect of the adsorption characteristics of type 5-A molecular sieves with respect to the adsorption-desorption of water and of nitric oxide was determined; both effects are significant in the analysis of mixtures of the oxides of nitrogen. The versatility of molecular sieves as an adsorbent in gas-solid chromatography was exploited in this work.