Chemical interaction between sea-salt and tellurium, between 300 and 1180 K.

As an emergency action during the Fukushima accident, seawater was used to maintain cooling. To evaluate the effect of the salt on fission-products, sodium chloride, and tellurium were heated together using different ratios in different atmospheres (inert or oxidizing) using thermogravimetric analysis. The experiment under inert conditions showed no indication of interaction. However, under oxidizing conditions an interaction for all samples was observed that prevented an otherwise observed mass increase of the tellurium reference. The change in the appearance of the samples at increasing temperatures was studied by heating them in a furnace.