KAERI: "Only Three Hours Needed to Remove Radioactive Contaminants"

A decontamination coating technology capable of removing radioactive contaminants in a short period has been developed in South Korea. This technology is expected to be useful for eliminating radioactive nuclides attached to the surfaces of buildings, equipment, and other objects during the handling of radioactive materials.

On March 26, the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) announced that the research team led by Dr. Yang Heeman from KAERI’s Nuclear Facility Cleaning Technology Development Department and Professor Lee Dongwook’s team from Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) have jointly developed a polyurethane-based 'peeling-type decontamination coating technology' by synthesizing catechol compounds.

An experiment is underway using a spray-type 'peelable decontamination coating' developed by a joint research team to remove radioactive contaminants adhered to wall surfaces. Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute

Catechol is a chemical substance derived from the adhesive protein of mussels. It is a type of phenol with two alcohol (OH) groups attached to a benzene (C6H6) ring, allowing it to adhere strongly to various surfaces.

The decontamination coating agent developed by the joint research team has strong adhesive power because the catechol compound is synthesized at the end of the polyurethane polymer chain. The coating agent is applied to the radioactive contaminated surface and dried to form a coating layer, which can then be peeled off like tape to quickly remove radioactive substances.

In particular, this coating agent outperforms existing commercial products in terms of radioactive contaminant removal efficiency and significantly reduces the time required for the process.

In actual radioactive isotope experiments with the decontamination coating agent, the removal efficiency of radioactive cesium ions from a stainless-steel surface was 94.9%, higher than that of commercial products (93.8%).

Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute

Most notably, while it takes about 24 hours to complete the decontamination process with commercial products, the decontamination coating agent developed by the joint research team can finish the task in just three hours, making it highly efficient.

Furthermore, when the coating agent was applied, dried for one hour, and peeled off twice on a cement surface with many small pores, the removal efficiency (13.1%) was 1.5 times higher than that of commercial coating agents (8.4%), despite the shorter process time.

This improvement in performance was possible due to the strong adhesive power of the catechol compound and the internal bonding strength of the coating, which enabled efficient capture of contaminated particles and surfaces.

The research team also confirmed that the used coating waste could be dissolved again in an acetone solvent. This allows for the separation of radioactive contaminants and the removal of radioactive nuclides using adsorbents, increasing the potential for waste reduction and material recycling.

Dr. Yang said, "This technology is significant in that it offers faster performance, higher removal efficiency, and the potential for processing and recycling coating waste compared to existing decontamination coatings. We hope this technology will be widely utilized in fields such as nuclear power plant decommissioning and nuclear accident response, contributing to nuclear safety."

This research was supported by the Defense Acquisition Program Administration's Civil-Military Technology Cooperation Program. The results were published online this month in the international materials science journal 'Materials Horizons.'

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.