Japan has just developed a new radioactive material

National Institute of Materials Science (NIMS) Japan has successfully announced the development of a new material capable of removing radioactive iodine and strontium in contaminated water with high efficiency.

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Workers are installing contaminated water tanks at the Fukushima I. plant (Source :: AFP)

The institute will cooperate with the Japan Nuclear Power Research and Development Agency to quickly bring the new material into application in troubleshooting the Fukushima I. nuclear power plant.

This new material in the form of silicon dioxide compound (SiO ₂ ) has a multitude of holes with a diameter of 2-20 nanometers (1 nanometer by 1 / billion meters) and the inner wall of the holes is coated with a compound layer. special. This new material can absorb radioactive iodine and strontium by changing the types of compounds.

According to NIMS, 1 gram of new material can smoke 20 milligrams of iodine or 13 milligrams of strontium. If converted to a concentration of strontium 90 in a nuclear reactor, it is equivalent to 65 billion becquerels.

Current radioactive reducing agents often absorb strontium-like iodine salts, magnesium and calcium, so the radioactive reduction efficiency in seawater is very low. The new radioactive reduction material will overcome this situation, but it can be used many times in reducing radioactive iodine.

A scientist in the research team said a few tons of new materials could be produced each day. The laboratory production cost is about 60-70 yen / 1 gram, the cost is low, but the effectiveness of radioactive decontamination is very high.