Influence of Entrainers on the Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Cleaning of Coolant Contamination on the Uranium Surface

The residual coolant on the surface of uranium after manufacture is inevitable and it will be effective on the corrosion of uranium. The coolant contamination has been cleaned by supercritical carbon dioxide (SCCO₂), SCCO₂⁺methanol and SCCO₂⁺ethanol. IR and Raman spectra have been used to investigate the cleaning efficiency for residual coolant in this study. The results show that a large amount of coolant contamination has been removed by SCCO₂. In addition, the results also show that the cleaning efficiency for residual coolant with SCCO₂ can be further enhanced by the addition of entrainers, including methanol and ethanol.