Advancement of Filtered Containment Venting System (FCVS) by Silver Zeolite (21)

(Development of Noble Gas Adsorption Systems Using XeA)

Abstract

When a severe accident occurs at a nuclear power plant, various radioactive substances are generated such as inorganic iodine, organic iodine, noble gases, and particulate matter. As a measure to remove these substances, Filtered Containment Venting System (FCVS) has been installed. However, radioactive noble gases are difficult to remove because they have poor chemical reactivity and low solubility in water. RASA Industries, Ltd. has developed silver zeolite XeA as a noble gas adsorbent to replace conventional activated carbon. XeA has superior Xe retention performance compared to activated carbon used for noble gas adsorption, and it is possible that conventional hold-up systems can be made more compact by replacing activated carbon with XeA. Additionally, replacing flammable activated carbon with nonflammable silver zeolite can improve fire safety. This paper reports the results of XeA performance evaluation tests under various conditions.