Effect of Gamma Ray Irradiation on Deoxygenation by Hydrazine in Artificial Seawater

Abstract

  At the spent nuclear fuel pools in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, hydrazine has been added to reduce dissolved oxygen in the pool water containing salts. The reduction behavior of dissolved oxygen in seawater with hydrazine in the presence of radiation is unknown. The effect of gamma ray irradiation on deoxygenation by hydrazine in artificial seawater was investigated at room temperature. We placed the artificial seawater with a small amount of hydrazine under gamma ray irradiation at dose rates of 0.3-7.5 kGy/h. The concentration of dissolved oxygen in the solutions was measured before and after the irradiation. The concentration of dissolved oxygen hardly decreased in the absence of gamma radiation in a few hours, whereas it markedly decreased in the presence of gamma radiation. The concentration of dissolved oxygen decreased with irradiation time. At this moment, hydrazine concentration decreased more than twice the dissolved oxygen concentration. This shows that some gamma radiolysis products of hydrazine act as deoxidizers. The concentration of dissolved oxygen in artificial seawater could be decreased by the addition of a small amount of hydrazine in the presence of gamma radiation at room temperature.