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Undeclared uranium hitches a ride on cobalt exports from Congo, study says
Philippe (left) and Manzuk quantified the amount of uranium that has been exported from the DRC in cobalt shipments or left behind in the environment. (Photo: Joel Hallberg/UW–Madison)
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Princeton University have published a study in Nature Communications that calls attention to a blind spot in nuclear nonproliferation: The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has exported thousands of metric tons of uranium, and there is no accounting for where it has gone.
In partnership with Lighthouse Reports and the Financial Times, UW–Madison nuclear engineering professor and nuclear security expert Sébastien Philippe and Ryan Manzuk, a geologist and research fellow in Philippe’s group and at Princeton, conducted the study using countrywide mineralization and geochemical data.
Valil S. Sathyaseelan, Appadurai L. Rufus, Sankaralingam Velmurugan
Nuclear Technology | Volume 193 | Number 2 | February 2016 | Pages 306-317
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NT15-27
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
At elevated temperatures, the corrosion of carbon steel and Type 304 stainless steel is high in media containing polycarboxylic acids such as nitrilotriacetic acid, which is a reagent used for the decontamination of nuclear reactor coolant systems. Hence, three commercial corrosion inhibitors (Philmplus 5K655, Prosel PC-2116, and Ferroquest LP7203) were evaluated for high-temperature applications. Preliminary screening of the inhibitors was done by electrochemical techniques, namely, polarization and impedance spectroscopy. Philmplus showed maximum corrosion inhibition efficiency and hence was used for high-temperature investigations. A concentration of 500 mg/L was found to be optimum. The high-temperature dissolution of corrosion product oxides such as magnetite and nickel ferrite that are relevant to nuclear reactors was also carried out in the presence of Philmplus. During the decontamination process, which involves the dissolution of corrosion product oxides, it is desirable to use an inhibitor that will alleviate the corrosion of the underlying base metal without compromising on the dissolution of the oxides present over it. Investigations were also carried out to evaluate hydrazine as a corrosion inhibitor for high-temperature applications; the results obtained were comparable to those of Philmplus.