Ordinary monopolar electrolytic decontamination needs manual handling to connect an anode of the current power supply directly to the radioactive metallic wastes. The procedure results in radiation exposure for operators. The purpose of this study is to develop a bipolar electrolytic decontamination method in which no connection of the current power supply to the radioactive metallic wastes is needed.
Engineering scale decontamination equipment was assembled to validate the method using up to 500mm long samples. Test results showed that the piping was dissolved more effectively than plane samples because of lower leak current. Moreover, dissolution fluctuation is almost homogeneous (in the standard deviation of less than 10%) for plate and pipe sample. The fluctuation was larger at the bending plate sample. It was also evaluated that the samples could be decontaminated remotely even in a basket and that safety assurance and radiation exposure reductions due to the remote handling were feasible.
