Spent fuel waste form characteristics: Grain and fragment size statistical dependence for oxidation response
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States)
- Battelle/PNL, Richland, WA (United States)
The Yucca Mountain Project of the US DOE is investigating the suitability of a site in the unsaturated zone at Yucca Mountain, NV, for a high level nuclear waste repository. All of the nuclear waste will be enclosed in a container package. Most of the waste form will consist of fragmented UO{sub 2} spent fuel pellets in Zircaloy-clad rods from nuclear reactors. If failure of both the waste containers and the cladding occurs, then the UO{sub 2} fragments will be exposed to oxygen in the air and higher oxides of uranium may form. Some existing microscopic data from low temperature testing indicate that UO{sub 2} oxidizes to U{sub 4}O{sub 9} by a phase transformation front that propagates into the fragments. The oxidation state and its extend into the spent fuel fragments may affect the dissolution behavior of spent fuel if it is contacted by water. Thus, a model for this oxidation response of UO{sub 2} spent fuel fragments is necessary to predict the behavior of the exposed waste form in order to assess the performance of any repository with respect to containment of radionuclides. A preliminary model of phase transformation oxidation response of spent fuel is developed that incorporates a statistical dependence on the size distribution of pellet fragments.
- Research Organization:
- American Nuclear Society (ANS), La Grange Park, IL (United States); American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), New York, NY (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-48
- OSTI ID:
- 145423
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-910435-Vol.1; TRN: 94:007591-0017
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 2. annual American Nuclear Society (ANS) international high level radioactive waste management conference, Las Vegas, NV (United States), 28 Apr - 3 May 1991; Other Information: PBD: 1991; Related Information: Is Part Of High Level Radioactive Waste Management: Proceedings of the second annual international conference; Proceedings, Volume 1; PB: 891 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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