Abstract: Water is decomposed into hydrogen and oxygen by reacting it with iodine and sulfurous acid to produce hydrogen iodide and sulfuric acid. The hydrogen iodide is decomposed to produce the hydrogen product and the iodine. The sulfuric acid is decomposed to produce water and sulfur trioxide. The sulfur trioxide is decomposed to produce sulfur dioxide and the oxygen product. The sulfur dioxide is reacted with water to produce the sulfurous acid.

Abstract: A process for reducing the volume of spent organic radioactive ion-exchange material which has been used for conditioning water circulated through a nuclear reactor. The spent radioactive ion-exchange material is removed from the reactor system and inserted into a dryer, where the residual free water and some of the intrinsic water in the ion-exchange material is removed so that the ion-exchange material has a moisture content less than 50% by weight. The dried ion-exchange material is then inserted into a fluid bed reactor, a carrier gas is inserted into the reactor and fluidizes the ion-exchange material, and the ion-exchange material is heated. The heating thermally decomposes the ion-exchange material, producing an effluent gas, which contains the volatile decomposition products. The carrier gas and the effluent gas are removed from the fluid bed reactor.