The Chornobyl accident revisited, Part II: The state of the nuclear fuel located within the Chornobyl sarcophagus
- Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, Kyyiv (Ukraine)
- Massachusetts Inst. of Technology, Boston, MA (United States)
Approximately 135 tonnes of the 190.3-tonne initial core fuel load ({approx}71%) at Chernobyl Unit 4 melted and flowed into the lower regions of the reactor building to form various kinds of the now-solidified lava-like fuel-containing materials (LFCMs) or corium. The results of radiochemical analyses reveal that only 5% of the LFCM inventory of Ru-106 remains. whereas, surprisingly, 35% of the LFCM inventory of Cs-137 remains. Moreover, the results of these analyses support the fact that little if any of the 5020 tonnes of various materials (dropped from helicopters during the active phase of the accident in an attempt to smother the burning graphite) ever made it into the core shaft, where the bulk of the core was located. The results appear to support earlier Western source-term estimates that significantly more volatile radionuclides may have been released as a result of the accident. 37 refs., 13 figs., 7 tabs.
- OSTI ID:
- 227177
- Journal Information:
- Nuclear Safety, Vol. 36, Issue 1; Other Information: PBD: Jan-Jun 1995
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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