Fission Products Release from Irradiated FBR MOX Fuel during Transient Conditions.

The objective of this work is to experimentally investigate the effect of the oxygen potential on the fuel and FP chemical behaviour in conditions representative of a severe accident. More specifically, the speciation of Cs, Mo and Ba is investigated. These three highly reactive FP are among the most abundant elements produced through 235U and 239Pu thermal fission and may have a significant impact on human health and environmental contamination in case of a light water reactor severe accident. This work has set out to contribute to the following three fields: providing experimental data on Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) MOX fuel behaviour submitted to severe accident conditions and related FP speciation; going further in the understanding of FP speciation mechanisms at different stages of a severe accident; developing a method to study volatile FP behaviour, involving the investigation of SIMFuel samples manufactured at low temperature through SPS. In this paper, a focus is made on the impact of the oxygen potential towards the interaction between irradiated MOX fuels and the cladding, the interaction between Mo and Ba under oxidizing conditions and the assessment of the oxygen potential during sintering.

Download Full-text

Thermochemical effect of fission products on sodium – MOX fuel reaction: The case of niobium

Journal of Nuclear Materials ◽

10.1016/j.jnucmat.2018.01.016 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 500 ◽

pp. 361-365

Author(s):

Dan T. Costin ◽

Lionel Desgranges ◽

Victor Cabello-Ortiga ◽

Marcus Hedberg ◽

Jenny Halleröd ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Fission Products ◽

Mox Fuel ◽

Thermochemical Effect

Download Full-text

Post-Leaching Studies of Defect Rodlets

9th ASME International Conference on Radioactive Waste Management and Environmental Remediation: Volumes 1, 2, and 3 ◽

10.1115/icem2003-4641 ◽

2003 ◽

Author(s):

D. H. Wegen ◽

D. Papaioannou ◽

J.-P. Glatz ◽

P. D. W. Bottomly ◽

M. Amme ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Grain Boundaries ◽

Optical Microscopy ◽

Fission Products ◽

Intergranular Attack ◽

Mox Fuel ◽

Metallographic Observation ◽

History Of ◽

Release Data

UO2 and MOX fuel rodlets are examined by optical microscopy after 5 years leaching in water to correlate the irradiation history of the fuels and of the fuel behaviour and with the release data for fission products and actinides. Metallographic observation revealed a strong intergranular attack of the MOX fuel in contrast to UO2. The latter effect could be responsible for the particularly high releases from the MOX fuel (upto 12% of the Cs inventory), compared to the UO2 fuel (only 0.6% of the Cs inventory). The large inventory of volatile fission products at grain boundaries can be explained by the high linear power rating (350 W/cm) with extremely high central temperatures in the MOX fuel during the irradiation.

Download Full-text

Characterization of solid fission products in 13.7% FIMA MOX fuel using electron microscopy techniques

Journal of Nuclear Materials ◽

10.1016/j.jnucmat.2019.06.042 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 524 ◽

pp. 67-79 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Riley J. Parrish ◽

Karen E. Wright ◽

Alexander J. Winston ◽

Casey McKinney ◽

Jason M. Harp ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Electron Microscopy ◽

Fission Products ◽

Mox Fuel ◽

Microscopy Techniques

Download Full-text

Effect of Americium and Simulated Fission Products Addition on Oxygen Potential of Uranium-Plutonium Mixed Oxide Fuels

MRS Proceedings ◽

10.1557/proc-1215-v12-04 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 1215 ◽

Author(s):

Kosuke Tanaka ◽

Masahiko Osaka ◽

Ken Kurosaki ◽

Hiroaki Muta ◽

Masayoshi Uno ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Thermogravimetric Analysis ◽

Fission Product ◽

Mixed Oxide ◽

Oxygen Potential ◽

Fission Products ◽

Mox Fuel ◽

Uranium Plutonium

AbstractThe oxygen potentials at 1273 K of mixed oxide (MOX) fuels with Am and 26 kinds of fission product elements (FPs), simulating low-decontaminated MOX fuel and high burn-up of up to 250 GWd/t, have been measured by using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The oxygen potentials for simulated low-decontaminated MOX fuels were higher than the fuels without FPs and increased with increasing simulated burn-up.

Download Full-text

The REBUS Experimental Programme for Burn-Up Credit

10th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering, Volume 4 ◽

10.1115/icone10-22022 ◽

2002 ◽

Author(s):

Pierre D’hondt ◽

Klaas van der Meer ◽

Peter Baeten ◽

Daniel Marloye ◽

Benoit Lance ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gamma Spectrometry ◽

Fission Products ◽

Nuclear Research ◽

Reactor Physics ◽

Direct Evaluation ◽

Fission Rate ◽

Mox Fuel ◽

Experimental Implementation ◽

International Programme ◽

Length Determination

An international programme called REBUS (REactivity tests for a direct evaluation of the Burn-Up credit on Selected irradiated LWR fuel bundles) for the investigation of the burn-up credit has been initiated by the Belgian Nuclear Research Center SCK•CEN and Belgonucle´aire with the support of USNRC, EdF from France, VGB, representing German nuclear utilities and NUPEC, representing the Japanese industry. The programme aims to establish a neutronic benchmark for reactor physics codes. This benchmark will qualify the codes to perform calculations of the burn-up credit. The benchmark exercise investigates the following fuel types with associated burn-up: • Reference 3.3% enriched UO2 fuel; • Fresh commercial PWR UO2 fuel; • Irradiated commercial PWR UO2 fuel (51 GWd/tM); • Fresh PWR MOX fuel; • Irradiated PWR MOX fuel (20 GWd/tM). Reactivity effects are measured in the critical facility VENUS. Fission rate and flux distributions in the experimental bundles will be determined. The accumulated burn-up of all rods is measured non-destructively in a relative way by gross gamma-scanning, while some rods are examined by gamma-spectrometry for an absolute determination of the burn-up. Some rods will be analyzed destructively with respect to accumulated burn-up, actinides content and TOP-19 fission products (i.e. those non-gaseous fission products that have most implications on the reactivity). Additionally some irradiated rods have undergone a profilometry and length determination. The experimental implementation of the programme has started in 2000 with major changes in the VENUS critical facility. Gamma scans, profilometry, length determination and gamma-spectrometry measurements on the MOX fuel have been performed. In the course of October 2001 the first fresh fuel configuration will be investigated. In the same period the commercial irradiated fuel will arrive at the SCK•CEN hot cells and will be refabricated into fuel rodlets of 1 meter length.

Download Full-text

Ceramic Wasteforms for the Conditioning of Spent MOx Fuel Wastes

MRS Proceedings ◽

10.1557/proc-807-231 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 807 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

E. R. Maddrell ◽

P. K. Abraitis

Keyword(s):

Solid Solution ◽

Rare Earth ◽

Fission Product ◽

Rare Earth Element ◽

Earth Element ◽

Fission Products ◽

Waste Stream ◽

Mox Fuel ◽

Radiation Resistant ◽

Crystalline Ceramic

ABSTRACTCrystalline ceramic wasteforms have been fabricated to immobilise a combined fission product and actinide waste stream arising from spent MOx fuel. The fuel is conditioned by a UREX process, as contrasted to PUREX, to produce a waste stream containing fission products and transuranics. Zirconia rich Synroc derivatives have been formulated to minimise formation of perovskite. This ensures that the transuranics are predominantly immobilised in zirconolite. For comparison, a wasteform has also been produced in which transuranics and rare earth element fission products are immobilised in a radiation resistant cubic zirconia solid solution, whilst caesium, strontium and barium are partitioned to an alumina rich magnetoplumbite phase.

Download Full-text