A Chemical Decontamination Process for Decontaminating and Decommissioning Nuclear Reactors

Five chemical decontamination processes have been developed for nuclear reactor applications. One of these processes is the cerium decontamination process (CDP). This method uses a cerium acid reagent to rapidly decontaminate surfaces, obtaining decontamination factors in excess of 300 in 6 h on pressurized water reactor specimens. Sound volume reduction and waste management techniques have been demonstrated, and solidified waste volume fractions as low as 9% experimentally obtained. The CDP method represents the hybrid decontamination technique often sought for component replacement and decommissioning operations: high effectiveness, rapid kinetics, simple waste treatment, and a low solidified waste volume.