Study of atmosphere parameters of the IVV-2M reactor hall

Abstract

The paper presents the results of a study of radioactive noble gases and from decay products in the atmosphere of the reactor hall of the research nuclear reactor IVV-2M. The distribution of short-lived 88Rb and 138Cs activity by sizes of aerosol particles was measured in the range of 0.5–1000 nm. It is shown that radioactive aerosols are characterized by three main modes with AMTD 2–3 nm, 7–15 nm and 400 nm. About 70% of aerosol activity is due to 88Rb. The equilibrium factor between 88Kr and 88Rb is 0.2 ± 0.1. The total concentration of aerosols particles was measured using an aerosol diffusion spectrometer. The value of unattached fraction of radioactive aerosols in the atmosphere of reactor hall IVV-2M was f = 0.15–0.25 at the average total aerosol particles concentration from 20,000 cm−3 to 53,000 cm−3.

Keywords

• Radioactive noble gas
• Aerosol
• Reactor hall
• Concentration
• Equilibrium factor