核电厂放射性废油中55Fe的测量方法

Method for Determination of 55Fe in Radioactive Used Oil from Nuclear Power Plant

  • 摘要: 为对核电厂放射性废油进行安全评价,需要测量其中的关键放射性核素55Fe的活度。本工作建立了一种用液体闪烁计数器测量核电厂废油样品中55Fe的方法。具体方法为:先用9 mol/L HCl反萃取废油样品中的55Fe,再通过AGMP-1阴离子交换树脂柱分离纯化反萃取液,用X射线荧光光谱分析仪测量放化流程的回收率,用液体闪烁计数器测量活度。测量结果表明:铁的平均回收率为71%±3%,潜在干扰核素63Ni、54Mn、51Cr的去污因子均大于10560Co的去污因子为5 651。液体闪烁计数器测量1 h,55Fe的最低检测限为0.02 Bq/g,用加标样品对方法进行检验,预期值与测量值的相对偏差在−2.9%~6.0%范围内。此外,筛选了适合55Fe测量的最优闪烁液,并建立了55Fe和59Fe双核素液闪图谱解析方法。该方法能快速、准确测量核电厂放射性废油中的55Fe。

     

    Abstract: 55Fe is an important corresponding activation product during the operation of nuclear power plants. 55Fe may be present in the used oil required for main circuit mechanical equipment through cross-contaminating during maintenance activities-including change-out of oil in plant equipment or directing contacting with contaminated water. Currently, used oil from nuclear power plants is mainly stored temporarily at nuclear power sites and needs to be treated by volume reduction to achieve the goal of waste minimization. Evaluation of the content of the important difficult-to-measure beta-radionuclide 55Fe is necessary for the management and disposal of used oil. In response to the need for the measurement of 55Fe in used oil, a method was established for the analysis of 55Fe in used oil. 5 mg of Fe3+ was added to the used oil sample, mixed well and left for 1 h to ensure that the Fe3+ is in equilibrium with the 55Fe in the sample. The iron in the used oil sample was back-extracted to the liquid phase with 9 mol/L HCl, passed through AGMP-1 anion-exchange resin, and the resin column was then rinsed with 60 mL of 12 mol/L HCl followed 8 mL of 6 mol/L HCl to remove the potential interfering nuclides 63Ni, 60Co, 54Mn, and 51Cr. Iron was eluted from the anion resin using 3 mL of 0.1 mol/L HCl. For the potentially interfering nuclide 59Fe, which cannot be removed by chemical separation, a method for analyzing the liquid scintillation counting spectra of the 55Fe and 59Fe dual nuclides was established and verified. The verified results show that the method can accurately calculate the 59Fe overflowing into the 55Fe counting window. By testing three commercially available scintillation cocktails, the acidic sample media containing 55Fe mixed with Ultima GoldTM LLT has the lowest detection limit and highest counting efficiency for LSC measurements of 55Fe. After the eluate was measured for iron recovery by an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer, 0.6 mL 14.7 mol/L H3PO4 was added to form colourless complex with Fe3+. Then, 14 mL of Ultima GoldTM LLT was added and mixed with the sample. The sample was gently agitated and placed in darkness in the liquid scintillation counter tray, and the counting was started 20 h later to minimize the luminescence. The method was applied to measure 55Fe in the used oil, the potential interfering nuclides for 55Fe were eliminated by the AGMP-1 anion exchange resin, which the decontamination factors are greater than 105 for 63Ni, 54Mn, 51Cr, and 5651 for 60Co. The average recovery of iron is 71%±2%, and the minimum detectable activity concentration for 55Fe in used oil is 0.02 Bq/g for 10 g sample with accounting time of 1 h. The method was validated by using spiked samples, and the measured 55Fe results agree well with the expected 55Fe values within an acceptable deviation of −2.9%-6.0%.

     

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