Filtered containment venting system (FCVS) is an essential technology in nuclear power plants for the removal of iodine. A laboratory scale venturi scrubber has been designed, developed and fabricated.The maximum removal efficiency of iodine is obtained as 82.32% at 3 x 10(-3) kmol/m(3) of KI solution, used as the scrubbing liquid for the throat gas velocity of 18 m/s and liquid flow rate of 0.033 kg/s with iodine inlet concentration of 0.39 kg/m(3). A semiempirical model has been developed to predict the removal efficiency of iodine scrubbing using the experimental results and the variables which show the impact on the scrubber performance. (C) 2018 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.