Experiment on Electrolysis Decontamination of Stainless Steel Pipes

A new electrolytic decontamination method used metal balls as conducting anode wasinvestigated. The influences of current density, solution property and diameter of pipes on effi-ciency of electrolytic decontamination were examined and the effiency of this method was com-pared with that of common electrolytic method under the same experimental conditions. Decon-tamination of samples of stainless steel pipes contaminated by plutonium was performed. Ex-perimental results indicate that decontamination of stainless steel pipes contaminated byplutonium can be achieved at the optimum conditions of greater than 0.2 A·cm~(-2) current den-sity, 5% sulfuric acid electrolyte and 5 min electrolysis. This method can be used in the decon-tamination of a wide variety of decommissioned metal matierals.