Hostname: page-component-68945f75b7-wph62 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-06T06:59:55.088Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Dissolution of Irradiated Fuel Under Hydrothermal Conditions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2011

Lawrence H. Johnson  and
Henry H. Joling
Lawrence H. Johnson
Affiliation:
Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, Whiteshell Nuclear Research Establishment, Pinawa, Manitoba, Canada. ROE ILO
Henry H. Joling
Affiliation:
Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, Whiteshell Nuclear Research Establishment, Pinawa, Manitoba, Canada. ROE ILO
Get access

Abstract

Uranium dioxide, the major component of irradiated CANDU fuel, shows good hydrothermal stability under the appropriate redox conditions. The thermodynamic stability of UO2 in low ionic strength granite groundwater at 150°C under oxidizing and reducing conditions is briefly reviewed in order to provide a basis for discussion of the results of irradiated fuel dissolution experiments. Fuel chemistry characteristics that influence the kinetics of fission product release are also discussed.

Experimental studies demonstrate the influence of redox chemistry on irradiated fuel dissolution behaviour. Undero9 trongly reducing conditions, both uranium and 99Tc concentrations in solution decrease to the detection limit, whereas appreciable concentrations of both elements accumulate under oxidizing conditions. The release of some fission products, such as 90Sr and 137Cs, does not seem to be strongly affected by changes in redox chemistry. Under oxidizing conditions, the rate of 90Sr release to solution increases by a factor of ten to twenty between 25 and 150°C.

These studies indicate the need for further work in certain areas, in particular on the relative amounts of important fission productsreleased by leaching versus matrix dissolution, and on the effect of the products of α–radiolysis of water on the dissolution of irradiated fuel.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 6: Symposium D – Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management IV , 1981 , 321
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1982

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 Katayama, Y.B., Bradley, D.J. and Harvey, C.O., “Status Report on LWR Spent Fuel IAEA Leach Tests”, PNL–3173 (1980).Google Scholar
2 Vandergraaf, T.T., “Leaching of Irradiated UO2, Fuel”, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited Technical Record, TR–100 (1980).Google Scholar
3 Ekland, U.-B. and Forsyth, R., “Leaching of Irradiated UO2 , Fuel”, KBS–70 (1978).Google Scholar
4 Acres Consulting Services Limited, “A Disposal Centre for Irradiated Nuclear Fuel: Conceptual Design Study”, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited Report, AECL–6415 (1980).Google Scholar
5 Kleykamp, H., “The Chemical State of LWR High Power Rods Under Irradiation”, IAEA Specialists' Meeting on Internal Fuel Rod Chemistry, IWGFPT/3, Kernforschungszentrum Karlsruhe (1979).Google Scholar
6 Johnson, L.H., Shoesmith, D.W., Lunansky, G.E., Bailey, M.G., Tremaine, P.R., Nucl. Technology, in press.Google Scholar
7 Hastings, I.J., Rose, D.H., Baird, J., J. Nuc. Materials 61, 229 (1976).Google Scholar
8 Nikitin, A.A., Sergeeva, E.I., Khodakovskii, I.L., Naumov, G.B., Geokhimiya 3, 297 (1972).Google Scholar
9 Tremaine, P.R., Leblanc, J.C., J. Solution Chem. 9, 415 (1980).Google Scholar
10 Goodwin, B.W., “Maximum Total Uranium Solubility Under Conditions Expected in a Nuclear Waste Vault”, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited Technical Record, TR–29 (1980).Google Scholar
11 Norris, A.E., “Fission Product Release: Progress Report, April 1–June 30, 1979”, LA–7969–PR, Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory (Aug. 1979).Google Scholar
12 Johnson, L.H., Burns, K.I., Joling, H.H., Moore, C.J., “The Dissolution of Irradiated UO2 Fuel Under Hydrothermal Oxidizing Conditions”, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited Technical Record, TR–128 (1981).Google Scholar
13 Lemire, R.J., Tremaine, P.R., J. Chem. Eng. Data 25, 361 (1980).Google Scholar