Interaction of Aqueous Iodine Species With Ag/Ag2O Surfaces

Abstract

One of the safety issues of nuclear power plants is radioiodine volatility in the reactor containment building in the unlikely event of an accident [6]. One important reaction for iodine volatility is that of I2/I- with Ag in either the reduced metallic form or an oxidized state [6]. It has been suggested that the oxidation state of silver could play a significant role in iodine sorption on silver. However, a detailed mechanism and the kinetics for iodine-silver interactions are not well established. In our study, the effect of the oxide film on the adsorption kinetics of iodine species on silver and silver oxides is examined using various electrochemical methods. The Ag2O growth on silver is electrochemically controlled, and the reaction kinetics of the controlled surface with aqueous iodine species is followed using various electrochemical methods.