Atmosphere Purification of Xenon, Radon, and Radon Daughter Elements
United States Patent im [in 3,13,439 Stein [45] Aug. 27, 1974 [54] ATMOSPHERE PURIFICATION OF XENON, 3,377,136 4/1968 Morrow 423/262 RADON & RADON DAUGHTER ELEMENTS 3,778,499 12/1973 Stein 423/210 3,784,674 1/1974 Stein 423/210 X [75] Inventor: Lawrence Stein, Downers Grove, 111. [73] Assignee: The United States of America as Primary Examiner—Earl C. Thomas represented by the United States Attorney, Agent, or Firm—John A. Horan; Arthur A. Atomic Energy Commission, Churm; James W. Weinberger Washington, D.C. [22] Filed: Mar. 27, 1973 [57] ABSTRACT [21] Appl. No.: 345,419 A method of purifying an atmosphere of xenon, radon and radon daughter elements by passing the atmo- [52] U.S. CI 423/210, 423/249, 423/262, sphere containing these elements through a reaction 423/472, 176/37, 252/301.1 R bed of dioxygenyl hexafluoroantimonate, which oxi- [51] Int. CI BOld 53/34 dizes the xenon, radon and radon daughter elements [58] Field of Search 423/210, 262, 472, 249; to their respective fluorides which remain in the reac- tion bed and are thus removed from the atmosphere, 176/37; 252/301.1 R, 301.1 W and recirculating the purified atmosphere. The [56] References Cited method is also useful for separating the before-named elements from krypton. UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,185,548 5/1965 Fields et al 423/262 9 Claims, No Drawings 3,829,551 1 2 ATMOSPHERE PURIFICATION OF XENON, Radioactive noble gases are also found in the atmo- RADON & RADON DAUGHTER ELEMENTS spheres of nuclear reactor power facilities and nuclear reactor fuel reprocessing facilities.
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