Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T19:42:36.168Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Behavior or Light Water Reactor Fuel after the Cladding is Breached under Unsaturated Test Conditions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2011

J. C. Cunnane ,
J. A. Fortner  and
R. J. Finch
J. C. Cunnane
Affiliation:
Chemical Technology Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL60439
J. A. Fortner
Affiliation:
Chemical Technology Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL60439
R. J. Finch
Affiliation:
Chemical Technology Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL60439
Get access

Abstract

Experiments were conducted to examine the corrosion behavior of fuel and cladding under test conditions selected to determine how fuel with breached cladding may behave under unsaturated repository conditions. The results discussed here were obtained from two test samples, each consisting of ∼3.5-in. segments of ATM103, a moderate-burnup (∼30 GWd/MtU) PWR fuel, exposed to humid air at 175°C. Visual examination of the samples after 540 days revealed that each had developed an axial crack that passed through a drilled hole in the cladding and ran the full length of the sample.

Destructive examination of the fuel and cladding showed that the cladding had experienced extensive fuel-side corrosion. Metallographic examination of the cladding shows the hydride distribution near the drilled hole, the fracture surfaces, and the fuel-side corrosion products. Electron microscopy (SEM, TEM) and electron diffraction analyses were used to characterize the corrosion products. The results indicate that the fuel-side corrosion of the cladding and the specific volume increase associated with the formation of the corrosion products caused the hoop stresses that resulted in the observed axial splitting. The implications of these results for the expected evolution of the spent fuel cladding after the cladding is initially breached in an unsaturated repository are discussed.

Type
articles
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 757: Symposium II – Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management XXVI , 2002 , II9.4
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2003

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1. Wasywich, K. M, Hocking, W. H., Shoesmith, D. W., and Taylor, P., “Differences in Oxidation Behavior of Used CANDU Fuel During Prolonged Storage in Moisture-Saturated Air and Dry Air at 150°C,” Nuclear Technology 104 (1993).Google Scholar
2. Johnson, L. H. and Taylor, P., “Alteration of Spent CANDU Fuel in Aerated Steam at 150°C,” AECL-12003 COG-98–364 (1998).Google Scholar
3. Finch, R. J., Buck, E. C., Finn, P. A., and Bates, J. K., “Oxidative Corrosion of Spent UO2 Fuel in Vapor and Dripping Groundwater at 90 °C”, Proceedings of the Materials Research Society 1998 Fall Meeting, Boston, Massachusetts, Nov. 30–Dec. 4 1998.Google Scholar
4. Grenthe, I., Fuger, J., Konongs, R. J. M., Lemire, R. J., Muller, A. B., Nguyen-Trung, C. and Wanner, H., “Chemical Thermodynamics of Uranium,” Nuclear Energy Agency/Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (NEA/OECD) (1992).Google Scholar
5. Finch, R. J., Miller, M. L., and Ewing, R. C., “Weathering of Natural Uranyl Oxide Hydrates: Schoepite Polytypes and Dehydration Effects,” Radiochimica Acta 58/59, 433–443 (1992).Google Scholar
6. Shoesmith, D. W., “Fuel Corrosion Processes Under Waste Disposal Conditions,” Journal of Nuclear Materials, 282, 1–31 (2000).Google Scholar
7. Xie, P. and Beaudoin, J. J., “Mechanism of Sulphate Expansion, I. Thermodynamic Principle of Crystallization Pressure,” Cement and Concrete Research 22, 631–640 (1992).Google Scholar
8. Yashima, M., Hirose, T., Katano, S., Suzuki, Y., Kakihana, M., and Yoshimura, M., Phys. Rev. B: Cond. Matter 51, 8434 (1995).Google Scholar
9. Pan, Y. M., Brossia, C. S., Cragnolino, G. A., Jain, V., Pensado, O., and Sridhar, N., “Effects of In-Package Chemistry on the Degradation of Vitrified High-Level Radioactive Waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel Cladding,” CNWRA 2002–01, October 2001.Google Scholar