Hot cell

From ArticleWorld

Hot cell is a heavily shielded room and windows. Hot cells have walls made of concrete or metal, a meter or more in thickness. The concreted metal allow excessively radioactive items to be handled and worked upon without revealing the operators to dangerous amounts of radiation.

Uses

Hot cells are used to inspect spent nuclear fuel rods, and other items which are high-energy gamma emitters. Examples of some uses are the processing of medical isotopes that have been irradiated in a nuclear reactor or particle accelerator would be carried out in a hot cell. A nuclear reactor is a device in which nuclear chain reactions are initiated, controlled and sustained at a steady rate.

Hot cell lite

Hot cell lite is used occasionally for industrial radiography. Radiography is the creation of images by exposing images to x-rays. In the case of hot cell lite, a shielded room is constructed and the radiographic equipment along side it, with the object to be examined. Consequently, the radiographic equipment is then operated by remote control, so that radiographers can work without getting a large dose of radiation.

Concerns

There are some concerns about hot cells.They can be used to carry out chemical steps used to extract plutonium from reactor fuel. What has to be done when used fuel is cut and the dissolving of the fuel and the first withdrawal cycle of a nuclear reprocessing called PUREX process-an high active cycle-would need to be done in a hot cell. Nuclear reprocessing is to separate usable elements from fission products and other materials used in nuclear fuel. Although, the second cycle of the PUREX process-medium active cycle-can be done in glove boxes. Glove boxes is a sealed container designed to allow one to manipulate the hazardous objects housed in it.