Leaching of 53 MW/d kg U spent nuclear fuel in a flow-through reactor

Serrano‐Purroy, Daniel; Clarens, F.; Glatz, Jean‐Paul; Wegen, D.; Christiansen, Birgit; Pablo, Joan de; Giménez, Javier; Casas, I.; Martínez-Esparza, A.

doi:10.1524/ract.2009.1640

Cited by 12 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Long term release rates of 137 Cs similar to that derived in Fig. 2 are observed for high burn-up fuel at 60 thermic gigawatt-day per ton uranium (5 Â 10 À5 per day 19 ), for some CANDU fuel 17 exposed to high temperature ("high power") in the reactor or for salt brines for a burn-up of 50 thermic gigawatt-days per ton uranium 20 (3 Â 10 À5 per day).…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 68%

State of Fukushima nuclear fuel debris tracked by Cs137 in cooling water

Grambow

2014

Environ. Sci.: Processes Impacts

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It is still difficult to assess the risk originating from the radioactivity inventory remaining in the damaged Fukushima nuclear reactors. Here we show that cooling water analyses provide a means to assess source terms for potential future releases. Until now already about 34% of the inventories of (137)Cs of three reactors has been released into water. We found that the release rate of (137)Cs has been constant for 2 years at about 1.8% of the inventory per year indicating ongoing dissolution of the fuel debris. Compared to laboratory studies on spent nuclear fuel behavior in water, (137)Cs release rates are on the higher end, caused by the strong radiation field and oxidant production by water radiolysis and by impacts of accessible grain boundaries. It is concluded that radionuclide analyses in cooling water allow tracking of the conditions of the damaged fuel and the associated risks.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 68%

State of Fukushima nuclear fuel debris tracked by Cs137 in cooling water

Grambow

2014

Environ. Sci.: Processes Impacts

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“…All of these tests were performed in air. A detailed description of the experiments can be found in refs – . Several commercial UO 2 and mixed uranium–plutonium oxide (MOX; see, e.g., refs and ) fuels from pressurized water reactors (PWRs) and boiling water reactors were used for the various campaigns: the results from leaching of two PWR fuels with average rod burnup values of 48 and 60 GWd/tHM are presented here.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Three types of fuel specimens were used: powder (∼0.25 g samples for the static leaching, with a typical grain size of 50–100 μm); decladded fragments (typically with a mass of 0.2–0.3 g); cladded segments of ∼1 cm length (∼9 g of fuel). Two water solutions were used for these tests: 1 mM NaHCO 3 + 19 mM NaCl synthetic bicarbonate (BIC) groundwater and bentonitic granitic groundwater (BGW). − ,, A comparison between the results obtained from leaching tests using BIC and BGW showed no difference in the observed release behavior for all of the main radionuclides. Therefore, most experiments (including those described in this paper) used BIC.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reducing Uncertainties Affecting the Assessment of the Long-Term Corrosion Behavior of Spent Nuclear Fuel

et al. 2013

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Reducing the uncertainties associated with extrapolation to very long term of corrosion data obtainable from laboratory tests on a relatively young spent nuclear fuel is a formidable challenge. In a geologic repository, spent nuclear fuel may come in contact with water tens or hundreds of thousands of years after repository closure. The corrosion behavior will depend on the fuel properties and on the conditions characterizing the near field surrounding the spent fuel at the time of water contact. This paper summarizes the main conclusions drawn from multiyear experimental campaigns performed at JRC-ITU to study corrosion behavior and radionuclide release from spent light water reactor fuel. The radionuclide release from the central region of a fuel pellet is higher than that from the radial periphery, in spite of the higher burnup and the corresponding structural modifications occurring at the pellet rim during irradiation. Studies on the extent and time boundaries of the radiolytic enhancement of the spent fuel corrosion rate indicate that after tens or hundreds of thousands of years have elapsed, very small or no contribution to the enhanced corrosion rate has to be expected from α radiolysis. A beneficial effect inhibiting spent fuel corrosion due to the hydrogen overpressure generated in the near field by iron corrosion is confirmed. The results obtained so far point toward a benign picture describing spent fuel corrosion in a deep geologic repository. More work is ongoing to further reduce uncertainties and to obtain a full description of the expected corrosion behavior of spent fuel.

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“…On the other hand, the range of cesium and strontium concentrations studied in this work comprises the actual cesium and strontium concentrations released from SNF in leaching experiments: 10 -10 −5 mol dm −3 for strontium [30][31][32][33]. At such ranges of concentration, experimental data obtained in this work indicate that sorption is favoured for both radionuclides.…”

Section: Potential Impact Of the Formation Of Uranophane In A Hlnwrmentioning

confidence: 98%

Retention of cesium and strontium by uranophane, Ca(UO2)2(SiO3OH)2·5H2O

Espriu-Gascon

Giménez

Casas

et al. 2018

Journal of Hazardous Materials

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This work determines the capacity of uranophane, one of the long-term uranyl secondary solid phases formed on the spent nuclear fuel (SNF), to retain radionuclides (cesium and strontium) released during the dissolution of the SNF. Sorption was fast in both cases, and uranophane had a high sorption capacity for both radionuclides (maximum sorption capacities of 1.53·10 mol m for cesium and 3.45·10 mol m for strontium). The high sorption capacity of uranophane highlights the importance of the formation of uranyl silicates as secondary phases during the SNF dissolution, especially in retaining the release of radionuclides not retarded by other mechanisms such as precipitation.

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Leaching of 53 MW/d kg U spent nuclear fuel in a flow-through reactor

Cited by 12 publications

References 35 publications

State of Fukushima nuclear fuel debris tracked by Cs137 in cooling water

State of Fukushima nuclear fuel debris tracked by Cs137 in cooling water

Reducing Uncertainties Affecting the Assessment of the Long-Term Corrosion Behavior of Spent Nuclear Fuel

Retention of cesium and strontium by uranophane, Ca(UO2)2(SiO3OH)2·5H2O

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