OECD/NEA Behaviour of Iodine Project

The NEA Behaviour of Iodine Project (BIP) has been created to provide separate effects and modelling studies of iodine behavioiur in a nuclear reactor containment building following a severe accident. The NEA joint project will complement other national and international experimental programmes which are also studying this phenomenon. As part of the project the results of three radioiodine test facility (RTF) experiments will be provided by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL). Project participants will seek to combine international resources to produce a consolidated understanding of the behaviour of iodine and other fission products in this scenario.

The specific technical objectives for this project are:

• quantifying the relative contributions of homogeneous bulk aqueous phase processes, homogeneous aqueous phase processes in paint pores and heterogeneous processes on surfaces to organic iodine formation;
• measuring adsorption/desorption rate constants on containment surfaces as a function of temperature, relative humidity and carrier-gas composition;
• providing RTF data to participants, for use in collaborative model development and validation.

It is expected that the results provided by this project will be useful for regulators and operators in the context of rmanaging post-accident situations in the containment building.

Work during the first part of the project has concentrated on the specifications for the first tests of the test matrix.

Project participants