SEM/EDAX Study of Particulate Material Filtered from PWR Primary Coolant

摘要

Insoluble material filtered from primary circuits of the Doel and Loviisa PWRs has been characterised for size, shape, and composition using scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray analysis. Based primarily on manual SEM/EDAX analysis, results from the automated Tracor analysis of more than 800 particles are presented. Autoradiography was used to identify the radioactive particles. Very few radioactive particles were identified amongst the majority of non-active particles. Results indicated that the particulate materials were of a very heterogeneous nature and differences in composition were also evident between the Westinghouse/Framatome and VVER PWRs. (ERA citation 13:014568)