Colorimetric Method for Detection of Hydrazine Decomposition in Chemical Decontamination Process

Jungsoon Park, Hee-Chul Eun, Seonbyeong Kim, Changhyun Roh and So-Jin Park
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Jungsoon Park: Department of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 34134, Korea
Hee-Chul Eun: Decommissioning Technology Research Division, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI), Daejeon 34057, Korea
Seonbyeong Kim: Decommissioning Technology Research Division, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI), Daejeon 34057, Korea
Changhyun Roh: Decommissioning Technology Research Division, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI), Daejeon 34057, Korea
So-Jin Park: Department of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 34134, Korea

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 20, 1-11

Abstract: The aim of nuclear facility decommissioning is to make local settlements safe, sustainable and professedly acceptable. The challenges are the clean-up of the nuclear site and waste management. This means a definite promise in terms of safety and security, taking into account social and environmental accountability. There is an essential need to develop safe and efficient methods for nuclear decommissioning. Thus, chemical decontamination technology is of great significance to the decommissioning of nuclear energy facilities. In particular, chemical decontamination technology is applicable to the pipelines and internal loop. The iron-rich oxides, such as Fe 3 O 4 or NiOFe 2 O 3 , of a nuclear power plant should have sound decontamination follow-through and should put through a very small amount of secondary waste. It is important to be able to detect and quantify hydrazine in decontamination situations with high sensitivity and selectivity. A colorimetric assay is a technique used to determine the concentration of colored compounds in a solution. However, detecting targeted species rapidly and easily, and with high sensitivity and specificity, is still challenging. Here, the catalytic reaction of oxidants in the p -dimethylaminobenzaldehyde and hydrazine reaction is elucidated. Oxidants can catalyze the reaction of hydrazine and p -dimethylaminobenzaldehyde to form an azine complex such as p -dimethylaminobenzaldazine, with high selectivity and sensitivity within 30 min at ambient temperatures. In the absence of an oxidant such as iron or hydrogen peroxide no detectable colorimetric change was observed by the reaction of p -dimethylaminobenzaldehyde and hydrazine unless an external oxidant was present in the system. In this study, we demonstrated a colorimetric method for the sensitive detection of hydrazine decomposition in the chemical decontamination process. Furthermore, the colorimetric response was easy to monitor with the unaided eye, without any sophisticated instrumentation. This method is thus suitable for on-site detection of contamination in a nuclear facility. In addition, this colorimetric method is convenient, non-invasive, free of complex equipment, and low-cost, making it possible to analyze hydrazine in industrial nuclear facilities. The proposed method was successfully applied to the determination of hydrazine decomposition in the nuclear decontamination process.

Keywords: nuclear energy; decontamination technology; hydrazine decomposition; chemical decontamination process (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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