Revaporization Behavior of Cesium and Iodine Compounds from Their Deposits in the Steam-Boron Atmosphere.

This paper presents our investigation on cesium and iodine revaporization from cesium iodide (CsI) deposits on stainless steel type 304L, which were initiated by boron and/or steam flow. A dedicated basic experimental facility with a thermal gradient tube (TGT) having a temperature range of 1000-400 K was used for simulating the phenomena. In the absence of boron, it was found that the initially deposited CsI at 850 K could be revaporized as CsI vapor/aerosol or reacted with the carrier gas and stainless steel (Cr 2 O 3 layer) to form Cs 2 CrO 4 . The latter mechanism consequently released gaseous iodine that was later accumulated downstream. After introducing boron to the steam flow, a severe revaporization occurred. This, in addition to the revaporized CsI vapor/aerosol, was caused by cesium borate (Cs 2 B 4 O 7 and CsB 5 O 8 ) formation, which then largely released gaseous iodine that was capable of reaching the TGT outlet (<400 K). In the case of a nuclear severe accident, our study has demonstrated that an increase of gaseous iodine in the colder region of a reactor could occur after late release of boron or a subsequent steam flow after refloods of the reactor, thus posing its inherent risk once leaked to the environment.