Evaluation method of iodine re-evolution from an in-containment water pool after a loss of coolant accident, Part II: Evaluation of pH and iodine re-evolution

Radioactive iodine that is released during a postulated loss of coolant accident is dissolved into the containment spray water and transported into the in-containment refueling water storage tank (IRWST). The re-evolution of iodine from the water is a safety concern. In this study, three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analyses are conducted in order to analyze the transport of chemical species including iodine in the IRWST and to calculate the amount of iodine that re-evolves from the IRWST water. The CFD analyses demonstrate that the pH of water is high where the iodine concentration is high. Considering that the creation rate of molecular iodine declines as the pH increases, it can be understood that the iodine re-evolution is not so strong in practical situations because the chemical conditions of the iodine-rich region suppress the re-evolution of the iodine. In addition, four different methods for evaluating the amount of re-evolved iodine are examined. The amount of re-evolved iodine calculated using the total-volume-average values, which are currently used for safety analyses, appear to be significantly higher than those determined using other methods. The amount of re-evolved iodine estimated using a realistic method with a conservative assumption of volatilization appears to be approximately one thousandth of that evaluated using the current method. This implies that the current method is very conservative.