Application of Nuclear Grade Resin in Nuclear Industry

The nuclear grade resin of pressurized water reactor nuclear power plants is mainly used for reactor coolant purification system, spent fuel pool cooling water purification system, steam generator wastewater treatment, boron recovery system, radioactive wastewater discharge system, etc.

Nuclear grade resin is the main water treatment material for the primary and auxiliary systems of pressurized water reactor nuclear power plants. It is used to purify the fission products, corrosion products, and impurity ions generated during operation, in order to maintain the water quality of the primary system and reduce the radiation dose of the power plant. Due to the adsorption of radioactivity, the resin used for primary purification is no longer reused.

The primary water treatment system of a nuclear power plant includes chemical and volume control systems (chemical and volume systems), boron recovery systems, spent fuel pool purification systems, and waste liquid treatment systems, which must be equipped with specific water treatment devices. The characteristics of the primary water treatment system are as follows:

(1) The chemical capacity system includes a purification bed, a boron removal bed, and a lithium removal bed. Purification bed is used to treat radioactive substances in the primary coolant system, reducing the radioactive level of the primary coolant system; The boron removal bed adjusts the reaction performance of the reactor by removing boron from the coolant; The lithium removal bed is used to remove some lithium from the primary coolant, so that the lithium concentration meets the requirements of boron lithium coordinated control. Among these three resin beds, the purification bed operates continuously, while the boron removal bed and lithium removal bed operate intermittently.

(2) The boron recovery system is equipped with a boron removal bed and a purification bed. The boron removal bed is used to remove boron from the condensate produced by the evaporation of the boron recovery system. The purpose of setting up two mixed beds in the boron recovery system is to purify the boron containing water as needed.

(3) In order to purify the water in the spent fuel storage pool, a mixed bed is installed in the system and intermittent operation is adopted to control the water quality. Two cation beds and two anion beds are also installed in the radioactive waste liquid treatment system to treat the waste liquid as needed. If the heat transfer tubes of the evaporator are damaged, the four mixed beds installed in the evaporator discharge system can serve the purpose of removing radioactive substances.

In order to reduce the generation of radioactive waste and meet the requirements of pressurized water reactor water chemistry control, the selected ion exchange resin must have the characteristics of large exchange capacity, high effluent requirements, and good stability. However, ordinary commercial ion exchange resin contains a small amount of organic or inorganic impurities, such as sulfonic acid, ammonium, copper, iron, lead, etc. When the resin comes into contact with water, these impurities may be released and affect water quality, making it unsuitable for direct application. Therefore, nuclear grade resins with better performance are selected for the primary circuit and auxiliary systems of pressurized water reactor nuclear power plants.

The structure of Haipu nuclear grade resin is basically the same as that of ordinary industrial resin, but its impurity content, especially the content of soluble organic matter, is lower. The particle uniformity and transformation rate are higher, and it can remove various impurity ions such as radioactive nuclides, boron, lithium, sodium, chlorine, fluorine, etc., meeting the needs of boron recovery systems, spent fuel purification systems, and chemical and volume systems in nuclear power plants.