Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-2lccl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T14:22:27.328Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Comparison of calculated and measured radionuclide inventory of a Zircaloy-4 cladding tube plenum section

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2018

Michel Herm ,
Ron Dagan ,
Ernesto González-Robles ,
Nikolaus Müller  and
Volker Metz
Michel Herm*
Affiliation:
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute for Nuclear Waste Disposal, P.O. Box 3640, 76021Karlsruhe, Germany
Ron Dagan
Affiliation:
KIT, Institute for Neutron Physics and Reactor Technology, P.O. Box 3640, 76021Karlsruhe, Germany
Ernesto González-Robles
Affiliation:
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute for Nuclear Waste Disposal, P.O. Box 3640, 76021Karlsruhe, Germany
Nikolaus Müller
Affiliation:
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute for Nuclear Waste Disposal, P.O. Box 3640, 76021Karlsruhe, Germany
Volker Metz
Affiliation:
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute for Nuclear Waste Disposal, P.O. Box 3640, 76021Karlsruhe, Germany
*
*(Email: michel.herm@kit.edu)
Get access

Abstract

Cladding tubes of water-cooled nuclear reactors are usually made of Zircaloy and are an important retaining element for radionuclides present in the fuel both during predisposal activities such as reloading of fuel assemblies from interim storage casks to final disposal casks and during final disposal in the case of canister breaching. However, cladding integrity is affected by various processes during reactor operation and beyond, e.g. fuel cladding chemical interaction and fission product precipitation onto the inner cladding surface. Using experimental and modelling methods, the radionuclide inventory of an irradiated Zircaloy-4 plenum section is analyzed. Quantities of 235/238U, 237Np, 238/239/240/241/242Pu, 241/243Am, 243/244Cm besides 14C, 55Fe, 125Sb, 154Eu, and 134/137Cs were (radio-)chemically determined in digested Zircaloy-4 subsamples. Measured inventories of activation products in the Zr-alloy are in good agreement with calculated values. However, amounts of actinides and fission products exceed the calculated inventory by factor ∼57 (minor actinides and non-volatile fission products) and ∼114 (137Cs). Excess of minor actinides and part of enhanced Cs inventory originate from fuel residues deposited on the inner cladding surface during fuel rod fabrication, whereas vast amount of cesium is volatilized from subjacent fuel pellets and transported to the plenum.

Keywords

actinidenuclear materialsPuUwaste management
Type
Articles
Information
MRS Advances , Volume 3 , Issue 19: Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management XLI , 2018 , pp. 1031 - 1037
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2018 

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

“Abschlussbericht der Kommission Lagerung hoch radioaktiver Abfallstoffe,” Berlin, Germany K-Drs. 268, 2016.Google Scholar
Grahek, Z. and Rozmaric Macefat, M., “Extraction chromatographic separation of iron from complex liquid samples and the determination of 55Fe,” J. Radioanal. Nucl. Chem., vol. 267, pp. 131–137, 2006.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herm, M., “Study on the effect of speciation on radionuclide mobilization – C-14 speciation in irradiated Zircaloy-4 cladding and nitrate/chloride interaction with An(III)/Ln(III),” PhD thesis, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, 2015.Google Scholar
Geckeis, H., Degering, D., Goertzen, A., Geyer, F. W., and Dressler, P., “Langzeitsicherheit nuklearer Endlager: Radiochemische Analytik von Proben aus Brennstoffauslaugungsexperimenten,” Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe (FZK), Karlsruhe, Germany FZKA 5650, 1995.Google Scholar
Pelowitz, D. B., “MCNPX Users Manual Version 2.7.0,” Los Alamos National Laboratories LA-CP-11-00438, 2011.Google Scholar
Wilson, W. B., Cowell, S. T., England, T. R., Hayes, A. C., and Moller, P., “A Manual for CINDER’90 Version 07.4 Codes and Data,” Los Alamos National Laboratory LA-UR-07-8412, 2008.Google Scholar
Gauld, I. C., Hermann, O. W., and Westfall, R. M., “ORIGEN scale system module to calculate fuel depletion, actinide transmutation, fission product buildup and decay, and associated radiation terms,” Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, USA ORNL/TM 2005/39, Version 6, Vol. II, Sect. F7, 2009.Google Scholar
Cetnar, J., “General solution of Bateman equations for nuclear transmutations,” Annals of Nuclear Energy, vol. 33, pp. 640–645, 2006.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chadwick, M. B., Herman, M., Oblozinsky, P., Dunn, M. E., Danon, Y., Kahler, A. C., et al. ., “ENDF/B-VII.1 Nuclear Data for Science and Technology: Cross Sections, Covariances, Fission Product Yields and Decay Data,” Nucl. Data Sheets, vol. 112, pp. 2887–2996, 2011.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rudling, P., Strasser, A., and Garzarolli, F., “Welding of Zirconium Alloys,” A.N.T. International, 2007.Google Scholar
Stratton, R. W., Botta, F., Hofer, R., Ledergerber, G., Ingold, F., Ott, C., et al. ., “A comparative irradiation test of UO2 sphere-pac and pellet fuel in the Goesgen PWR,” in Int. Topical Meeting on LWR Fuel Performance “Fuel for the 90’s”, Avignon, France, 1991.Google Scholar
Gauld, I. C., Ilas, G., and Radulescu, G., “Uncertainties in predicted isotopic compositions for high burnup PWR spent nuclear fuel,” United States Nuclear Regulatory Commision NUREG/CR-7012, ORNL/TM-2010/41, 2011.Google Scholar
Metz, V., Gonzalez-Robles, E., and Kienzler, B., “Characterization of UOX fuel segments irradiated in the Gösgen pressurized water reactor,” KIT Scientific Publishing, Karlsruhe KIT-SR 7676, http://dx.doi.org/10.5445/KSP/1000041743, 2014.Google Scholar
Kernkraftwerk-Gösgen, “Technik und Betrieb – Technische Hauptdaten,” Kernkraftwerk Gösgen-Däniken AG, Solothurn, Switzerland, 2015.Google Scholar