Development of an air cleaning system for dissolving high explosives from nuclear warheads Page: 3 of 31
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24th DOE/NRC NUCLEAR AIR CLEANING AND TREATMENT CONFERENCE
DEVELOPMENT OF AN AIR CLEANING SYSTEM FOR DISSOLVING
HIGH EXPLOSIVES FROM NUCLEAR WARHEADS*
by
W. Bergman, K. Wilson, K. Staggs, and D. Wapman
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Livermore, CA 94550
Abstract
The Department of Energy (DOE) has a major effort underway in
dismantling nuclear weapons. In support of this effort we have been developing a
workstation for removing the high explosive (HE) from nuclear warheads using hot
sprays of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) solvent to dissolve the HE. An important
component of the workstation is the air cleaning system that is used to contain
DMSO aerosols and vapor and radioactive aerosols.
The air cleaning system consists of a condenser to liquefy the hot DMSO
vapor, a demister pad to remove most of the DMSO aerosols, a high efficiency
particulate air (HEPA) filter to remove the remaining aerosols, an activated carbon
filter to remove the DMSO vapor, and a final HEPA filter to meet the redundancy
requirement for HEPA filters in radioactive applications. The demister pad is a 4"
thick mat of glass and steel fibers and was selected after conducting screening tests
on promising candidates. We also conducted screening tests on various activated
carbons and found that all had a similar performance. The carbon breakthrough
curves were fitted to a modified Wheeler's equation and gave excellent predictions
for the effect of different flow rates. After all of the components were assembled,
we ran a series of performance tests on the components and system to determine'
the particle capture efficiency as a function of size for dioctyl sebacate (DOS) and
DMSO aerosols using laser particle counters and filter samples. The pad had an
efficiency greater than 99% for 0.1 m DMSO particles. Test results on the
prototype carbon filter showed only 70% efficiency, instead of the 99.9% in small
scale laboratory tests. Thus further work will be required to develop the
prototype carbon filter.
I. Introduction
This study is a continuation of the development previously described of an air
cleaning system in support of the DOE nuclear weapons dismantlement program
in which hot DMSO sprays are used to dissolve the HE from nuclear warheads.")
The DMSO spray generates a high concentration of aerosols containing dissolved
HE that must be contained and filtered by HEPA filters in the exhaust line to
prevent HE or potential radioactive contamination from being released to the
*This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under contract no. W-7405-ENG-48.1
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Bergman, W.; Wilson, K.; Staggs, K. & Wapman, D. Development of an air cleaning system for dissolving high explosives from nuclear warheads, article, February 1, 1997; California. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc694478/m1/3/: accessed April 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.