Patent ID: 9607721
Date: 2017-03-28
CPC Classifications: G21C,G21F,Y02E

Claim:
1. A method of separating amorphous iron oxides from a sample of nuclear reactor corrosion products, comprising the steps of: (a) obtaining a water sample containing the corrosion products from the nuclear reactor coolant loop; (b) filtering said water sample containing corrosion products to separate granules containing radioactive iron oxides from the water; (c) applying ultrasonic vibration and an acid liquor mixture comprising a first acid liquor selected from a group consisting of nitric acid, sulfuric acid, carbonic acid and hydrofluoric acid and having a concentration between 0.01 M and 5M and a second acid liquor selected from a group consisting of nitric acid, sulfuric acid, carbonic acid and hydrofluoric acid and having a concentration between 0.05M and 3M to the granules containing radioactive iron oxides to obtain a solution containing amorphous radioactive iron oxides and undissolved crystalline radioactive iron oxides and then separating said solution from the granules containing crystalline radioactive iron oxides by filtering; (d) quantitatively analyzing the solution with amorphous radioactive iron oxides with inductively coupled plasma (ICP) to obtain a concentration of amorphous iron oxides in the solution; (e) quantitatively analyzing the granules containing crystalline radioactive iron oxides with X-ray diffraction (XRD) to obtain a weight percentage of crystalline radioactive iron oxides in each granule; and (f) dissolving said granules containing crystalline radioactive iron oxides with aqua regia to obtain a solution containing crystalline radioactive iron oxides and quantitatively analyzing the solution containing crystalline radioactive iron oxides with ICP quantitative analysis to obtain a concentration of crystalline iron oxides in the solution, wherein said granules containing crystalline radioactive iron oxides have granular sizes bigger than 0.45 micrometer (μm); and wherein said acid liquor mixture and said aqua regia have concentrations between 0.01M and 5M.