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Radiolysis of Groundwater from HLW Stored in Copper Canisters

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 February 2011

Hilbert Christensen  and
Erling Bjergbakke
Hilbert Christensen
Affiliation:
Studsvik Energiteknik AB, S-611 82 Nyköping, Sweden
Erling Bjergbakke*
Affiliation:
Studsvik Energiteknik AB, S-611 82 Nyköping, Sweden
*
*Risö National Laboratory, DK-4000, Roskilde, Denmark
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Abstract

A large number of computer calculations of the radiolysis of ground water outside copper canisters have been carried out within the Swedish Nuclear Fuel safety Project.

At dose rates higher than 5 × 10−2 rad/s the hydrggen concentration is constant, approximately 10−3 mol/dm3, and independent of time and dose rate. Therefore the rate of difiusion out of the system is constant, approximately 7 × 10−4 mol/year. At dose rates lower than 5 × 10−4 rad/s the logarithm of the hydrogen production is proportional to the logarithm of the dose rate. The hydrogen production depends on fuel type, burn-up and canister thickness only to the extent that the dose rate varies with these parameters. The hydrogen production is independent of the volume of water in which the energy is assumed to be absorbed (5 or 15 cm layers outside the surface of the canister).

The hydrogen production depends on the concentration of Fe2+ ions in the water. In the basic calculations the concentration was assumed to be 5 ppm. An increase to 50 ppm increases the total hydrogen production after one million years outside a 1 cm thick canister from 360 to 1000 mol. A decrease to 0.5 ppm decreases the same yield to 80 mol.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 15: Symposium D – Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management VI , 1982 , 429
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1983

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References

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