Patent Number: 042833671
Section: summary

The present invention relates to a method of separating krypton from radioactive waste gases which become free during the chemical dissolution of burned-off core fuel particles and which contain krypton and xenon, and also concerns a gas separation plant for practicing said method. When regenerating fuel elements, the core fuel particles are chemically dissolved in order to separate the fission products or the disintegration products thereof, which form during the reactor operation, from the fuel and/or breeder elements usable again for making fuel elements. A portion of the fission products is formed by the gases krypton and xenon which are contained in the waste gas of the chemical dissolver. To blow off the waste gas into the atmosphere is, due to the radioactive isotope Kr.sup.85 contained in the krypton and comprising a halfway time of 10.3 years, not tolerable in an unlimited manner. Therefore, it is necessary to store the waste gases occurring during the chemical dissolution of the core fuel particles, until the radioactivity has dropped to a minimum which is sufficiently safe. For storing the waste gases, considerable space is required. The krypton component in the waste gas is, however, relatively small. With reference to the xenon volume, the krypton volume is only approximately 15/85. When depositing the entire waste gas which is generated during the chemical dissolution of the core fuel particles, the major portion of the storage spaces have to be made available for such gas components the nature of which is not dangerous for the surroundings. This space requirement is rather uneceonomical and represents a considerable disadvantage. It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a method of and device for separating krypton from waste gases which become free during the chemical dissolution of core fuel particles to be generated, and which method and device will permit a continuous removal of the krypton gas from the waste gas mixture.