Speaker
Description
Radioactive gas measurement is a key technology for nuclear explosion detection. Gas collection and separations play an important role in performing high sensitivity measurements of radioactive noble gases such as radioxenon. Decreasing the size, weight, and power of noble gas detection systems could allow higher volume gas processing with the same footprint and power, increasing overall sensitivity. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is investigating a rapid cycle temperature swing adsorption (R-TSA) process that has the potential to decrease the size and energy needed to separate radioactive gasses from the atmosphere. Additive manufacturing is being leveraged to construct adsorption beds with integrated heat exchange structures as well as compact rotary valves. Thermal recuperation is used to transfer heat from hot desorbed beds to cold beds, minimizing the energy required for the temperature swing process. The R-TSA process is being investigated as a preprocessing step to remove water, CO2 and other contaminates from the air stream, one of the energy intensive operations required in radioactive gas systems. The R-TSA process can also be used for radioxenon separation. The objective of this research is developing small energy-efficient processes that can be used in next-generation nuclear explosion detection systems.
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