RN Fractional Release of High Burn-Up Fuel: Effect of HBS and Estimation of Accessible Grain Boundary

2008 ◽  
Vol 1107 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Clarens ◽  
D. Serrano-Purroy ◽  
A. Martínez-Esparza ◽  
D. Wegen ◽  
E. Gonzalez-Robles ◽  
...  

AbstractThe so-called Instant Release Fraction (IRF) is considered to govern the dose released from Spent Fuel repositories. Often, IRF calculations are based on estimations of fractions of inventory release based in fission gas release [1]. The IRF definition includes the inventory located within the Gap although a conservative approach also includes both the Grain Boundary (GB) and the pores of restructured HBS inventories.A correction factor to estimate the fraction of Grain Boundary accessible for leaching has been determined and applied to spent fuel static leaching experiments carried out in the ITU Hot Cell facilities [2]. Experimental work focuses especially on the different properties of both the external rim area (containing the High Burn-up Structure (HBS)) and the internal area, to which we will refer as Out and Core sample, respectively. Maximal release will correspond to an extrapolation to simulate that all grain boundaries or pores are open and in contact with solution.The correction factor has been determined from SEM studies taking into account the number of particles with HBS in Out sample, the porosity of HBS particles, and the amount of transgranular fractures during sample preparation.


MRS Advances ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (17-18) ◽  
pp. 981-986
Author(s):  
Alexandre Barreiro Fidalgo ◽  
Olivia Roth ◽  
Anders Puranen ◽  
Lena Z. Evins ◽  
Kastriot Spahiu ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTIn the context of safety assessment, the fraction of inventory that is expected to rapidly dissolve when water contacts the spent fuel is called the Instant Release Fraction (IRF). Conceptually, this fraction consists of radionuclides outside of the uranium dioxide matrix and therefore the fraction can be further divided into the radionuclides in the fuel/cladding gap and radionuclides in the grain boundaries. The relative importance of these two fractions is investigated here for two Swedish high burnup fuels through simultaneous grinding and leaching fuel fragments in simplified groundwater for a short period of time. The hypothesis is that this will expose grain boundaries to leaching solution and provide an estimate of the release of the grain boundary inventory upon contact with water. The studied fragments were used in previous leaching experiments and thus pre-washed to remove any pre-oxidized phases. The results showed a significant release of iodine, cesium and rubidium and to a lower extent molybdenum and technetium. The fraction of inventory in the aqueous phase of actinides and lanthanides was 1-2 orders of magnitude lower than for the elements associated to the IRF. Both fuels displayed a very similar behavior and no correlation as a function of burnup or fission gas release was found.



1999 ◽  
Vol 556 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. J. Gray

AbstractPerformance assessment calculations that support geologic disposal of spent nuclear fuel in a potential repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, are based in part on the assumption that 2% of the total inventories of 135Cs, 129I, and 99Tc are located in the gap and grain-boundary regions where they could dissolve rapidly if the spent fuel were to be contacted by groundwater. Actual measured values reported here for a few light-water reactor (LWR) spent fuels show that the combined gap and grain-boundary inventories of 129I approximately equaled the fission-gas release fractions. For 137Cs, the combined gap and grain-boundary inventories were approximately one third of the fission-gas release fractions. These measured values can be used to replace the 2% estimate and thus reduce the uncertainties in the calculations.



1992 ◽  
Vol 294 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Stroes-Gascoyne ◽  
J.C. Tait ◽  
R.J. Porth ◽  
J.L. Mcconnell ◽  
T.R. Barnsdale ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTTwo methods were used to measure grain-boundary inventories of 137Cs, 90Sr and 99Tc in used CANDU fuel, to corroborate source term estimates based on a fission gas release code. Used fuels were partially oxidized at 200°C in air to overall compositions of UO2+x (0.15≤ × ≤0.25) to expose UO2 grain boundaries, followed by leaching in aqueous solution. Only a fraction (2 to 18%) of the calculated gap + grain-boundary inventories for 37Cs was released. This suggests that the calculations overestimate Cs release or that oxidation does not expose all grain boundaries, or that Cs release from grain boundaries is slow. Release of 90Sr (0.01 to 0.7%) agreed reasonably well with the source term estimates (0.001 to 0.3%). Release of 99Tc (0.3 to 1.5%) suggests that the source term estimate for the upper boundary of 99Tc release (25%) may be too high. A second technique involved leaching of crushed and size-fractionated used fuel in either a static or dynamic system. A direct one-to-one correlation between calculated and measured gap + grain-boundary inventories for 137Cs was found for low- and medium-power fuels.



2012 ◽  
Vol 1475 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ella Ekeroth ◽  
Daqing Cui ◽  
Jeanett Low ◽  
Michael Granfors ◽  
Hans-Urs Zwicky ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTDuring irradiation in the reactor, a fraction of the fission product inventory will have segregated either to the gap between the fuel and the cladding or to the grain boundaries in the fuel. Of these nuclides, the behavior of the fission gases is best known. The part of the inventory that is rapidly released upon contact with water is designated the instant release fraction (IRF). Previous studies have shown that IRF and fission gas release (FGR) seem to be correlated. Studies of the instant release fraction from high burnup fuel is of interest for the assessment of the safety of a geological repository.The instant release fractions of 129I and 137Cs from five different light water reactor (LWR) fuel rods with a burnup range of 43 to 75 MWd/kgU and a fission gas release range from 0.9 to 5.0 % were studied. Four types of fuel samples (pellet, fragment, powder and fuel rodlet) have been used in the experiments. The results show that the fuel sample preparation method has a significant impact on the release from high burnup fuel samples over the time period covered by this study. Leaching of high burnup fuel samples with fuel detached from the cladding shows the highest release. The fractional 129I release from such fragment samples is similar to the FGR in the corresponding rod. On the other hand, corresponding fractional release of 137Cs is lower.



2014 ◽  
Vol 452 (1-3) ◽  
pp. 95-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pritam Chakraborty ◽  
Michael R. Tonks ◽  
Giovanni Pastore






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