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Education, Training & Workforce Development
The Education, Training & Workforce Development Division provides communication among the academic, industrial, and governmental communities through the exchange of views and information on matters related to education, training and workforce development in nuclear and radiological science, engineering, and technology. Industry leaders, education and training professionals, and interested students work together through Society-sponsored meetings and publications, to enrich their professional development, to educate the general public, and to advance nuclear and radiological science and engineering.
Meeting Spotlight
Utility Working Conference and Vendor Technology Expo (UWC 2024)
August 4–7, 2024
Marco Island, FL|JW Marriott Marco Island
Standards Program
The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Taking shape: Fusion energy ecosystems built with public-private partnerships
It’s possible to describe fusion in simple terms: heat and squeeze small atoms to get abundant clean energy. But there’s nothing simple about getting fusion ready for the grid.
Private developers, national lab and university researchers, suppliers, and end users working toward that goal are developing a range of complex technologies to reach fusion temperatures and pressures, confounded by science and technology gaps linked to plasma behavior; materials, diagnostics, and electronics for extreme environments; fuel cycle sustainability; and economics.
O. Fandiño, J. S. Cox, C. McGregor, J. Conrad, K. Liao, P. R. Tremaine
Nuclear Technology | Volume 208 | Number 1 | January 2022 | Pages 192-201
Technical Note | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2020.1862471
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Exposure to air can cause amine solutions in CANada Deuterium Uranium (CANDU) reactor secondary coolant circuit feed tanks to absorb carbon dioxide (CO2). Likewise, carbon dioxide can be absorbed directly into the amine-containing secondary coolant by air ingress during shutdown, lay-up, and startup. Sampling operations, including transferring the sample to the laboratory and subsequent analyses, can also provide opportunities for CO2 contamination. This paper reports the results of laboratory and chemical modeling studies to examine the effects of CO2 contamination on aqueous morpholine solutions.
The chemistry of CO2 uptake by feed tanks containing up to 50 wt% (11.5 mol·kg−1) morpholine at 25°C was modeled using the OLI Studio 9.5.2 chemical equilibrium model, and the speciation was confirmed by 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) measurements. The effects of CO2 contamination on the pH of the secondary coolant containing 60 ppm (0.006 wt%, 7.00 × 10−4 mol·kg−1) morpholine and the resulting effects on the solubility of magnetite and nickel oxide from 25°C and 250°C at steam saturation were modeled as a function of CO2 loading using the Electrical Power Research Institute chemical modeling software MULTEQ v.8.
The chemical modeling calculations show that concentrated alkaline morpholine solutions at room temperature and pressure would be expected to have a strong tendency to absorb CO2 and have additional uptake abilities due to the formation of morpholine carbamates. For dilute morpholine solutions at room temperature and pressure, the solutions are still sufficiently alkaline to absorb enough CO2 to cause a measurable change in the pH of the secondary coolant. This effect was shown to be negligible under reactor operating conditions. The absorption of CO2 would potentially have the most effect on either unprotected feed tanks or during lay-up conditions in the steam generators, as it could depress the pH of the lay-up solution and adversely affect the rate of corrosion in the internal components of the steam generators (e.g., carbon steel materials).
The 13C NMR measurements on samples of 50 wt% aqueous morpholine solutions from feed tanks at the Ontario Power Generation’s Pickering Nuclear Generating Station found that CO2 was below the 0.02 wt% detection limit, and suggest that the procedures used to avoid CO2 contamination in feed tanks are effective. The 13C NMR was shown to be an effective tool for monitoring CO2 uptake by morpholine solution in the feed tanks under conditions in which they may have undergone abnormal exposure to air.