Fission gas trapped in Chornobyl fuel microparticles reveals details of reactor operations

Leifermann, Laura; Balco, Greg; Roberts, Autumn; Raiwa, Manuel; Hanemann, Paul; Weissenborn, Tobias; Ohm, David; Klinkenberg, Martina; Savina, Michael; van Eerten, Darcy; Brandt, Felix; Isselhardt, Brett H.; Walther, Clemens

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2025.137992

Fission gas trapped in Chornobyl fuel microparticles reveals details of reactor operations

Journal Article · Fri Mar 21 04:00:00 EDT 2025 · Journal of Hazardous Materials

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2025.137992· OSTI ID:2587402

^[1]; Balco, Greg ^[2]; Roberts, Autumn ^[2]; Raiwa, Manuel ^[2]; ^[1]; Weissenborn, Tobias ^[1]; Ohm, David ^[1]; Klinkenberg, Martina ^[3]; ^[2]; ^[1]; Brandt, Felix ^[3]; ^[2]; Walther, Clemens ^[1]

Leibniz University, Hannover (Germany). Hannover Institute of Radioecology and Radiation Protection
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Forschungszentrum Juelich (Germany)

The isotopic ratios of fission gas would provide important source information of a nuclear fuel sample found in the environment. However, it is believed that during a reactor accident like Chornobyl all fission gas is lost and that the radioactive particles found in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone today are depleted in gases by the initial explosion and subsequent fire. We disprove this hypothesis by detection and analysis of trapped krypton and xenon in these particles. Our analysis of krypton and xenon isotopes by noble gas mass spectroscopy in combination with resonance ionization mass spectrometry establishes that important information about reactor operations like age, neutron flux and plutonium fission fraction can still be reconstructed from individual micrometer-sized particles even after decades of weathering in the environment.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC52-07NA27344

OSTI ID:: 2587402

Report Number(s):: LLNL--JRNL-871676

Journal Information:: Journal of Hazardous Materials, Journal Name: Journal of Hazardous Materials Vol. 491; ISSN 0304-3894

Publisher:: Elsevier BVCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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