Recovery of radioactive iodine from nuclear power plants using a microwave based plasma technique

In the event of a nuclear plant accident where the nuclear fuel has been damaged, radioactive iodine gaseous species can be released into the environment. Iodine is known to migrate well thus it is possible for the iodine to enter ocean plants nearby such as seaweed and kelp. A microwave generated plasma is used to elevate the energy of the iodine molecules found in kelp to the point where ionization can occur. The characteristics of the plasma and the iodine species is observed. The released gaseous species are capture in a filter system and the iodine species are identified. The results indicate that I2, I^-, and I3^- species are observed. The technique works well at ionizing the iodine species at relatively low powers. These results suggest that a microwave based technique may be useful for environmental monitoring and cleanup activities of radioactive species such as iodine.