Westinghouse Electric Corporation

Robert W White

Alexander P Murray

Clifton G Slater

Edward Jean Lahoda

Sharon L Weisberg

Disclosed is a method of decontaminating the metal surfaces in the cooling system of a nuclear reactor by contacting the metal surfaces with an aqueous solution containing about 0.5 to about 3% of a ceric acid which can be tetrasulfato ceric acid, hexasulfamato ceric acid, hexaperchlorato ceric acid, or mixtures thereof, and about 1 to about 5% of an inorganic acid that forms a complex with the ceric acid. The cerium III in the aqueous solution can be oxidized to cerium IV to increase the life and effectiveness of the solution. After oxidation, the aqueous solution can be passed through a hydrogen form cation exchange column to remove metal ions. If the aqueous solution contains uranyl or plutonyl ions these can be recovered by extraction for use in making fuel. Also disclosed is a decontaminating solution of water containing about 0.5 to about 3% of a ceric acid which can be tetrasulfato ceric acid, hexasulfamato ceric acid, hexaperchlorato ceric acid, or mixtures thereof, and about 1 to about 5% of an inorganic acid that forms a complex with the ceric acid.

Ceric acid decontamination of nuclear reactors

Vapor of dicyclopentadienyl zirconium dicyanate is irradiated by a laser beam of a CO.sub.2 laser tuned to the stretching frequency of the .sup.S Zr-O-C bond of the dicyanate where .sup.S Zr is a selected isotope of zirconium. The excited component of the irradiated dicyanate including the .sup.S Zr is decomposed and is separated from the remainder. The dicyanate is readily prepared in large quantities, resists hydrolysis, sublimes at a temperature well below its dissociation temperature, and has a lower molecular weight than other proposed compounds such as dicyclopentadienyl zirconium diisopropoxide, and dicyclopentadienyl zirconium-di-tert-butoxide

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New Kensington, PA, United States of America

Robert W White