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Burnup determination on nuclear fuel samples from the FR-2 reactor

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:4390354
In this work a survey will be presented of the methods of determining the burnup of enriched fuel (U0/sub 2/, max. 12.5% /sup 235/U). The pins were irradiated in the FR2 reactor up to a burnup of 90,000 MWd,/t heavy atoms. Including a discussion of errors the following types of burnup determination are treated: gamma -spectrometric method; this is the radiochemical calibration of a gamma -scan; neutron physics method with Co-detectors; radiochemical methods founded on measuring the activity of /sup 90/Sr, /sup 106/Ru, /sup 137/Cs, /sup 144/Ce, /sup 148/Nd ( after neutron activation) and the concentration of /sup 99/gTc photometrically; mass spectrometrical determination of /sup 148/Nd and of the composition of the uranium isotopes; and calorimetric methods including measurements of temperature and quantity of coolant and on the other hand, measurements of the temperature with thermocouples in the capsules. The radiochemical methods showed that /sup 137/Cs and /sup 99g/Tc are not suitable as burnup detectors because of their tendency to migrate. The /sup 144/Ce method was directly compared with the calorimetric method for irradiated samples from capsule group No. 3. The discrepancies were explained as irradiation damage of the thermocouples and seasonal deviations of the D/sub 2/0 temperature of the reactor FR2. Both methods show uncertainties of the same magnitude (5 to 6%). (auth)
Research Organization:
Kernforschungszentrum Karlsruhe (F.R. Germany)
NSA Number:
NSA-29-007542
OSTI ID:
4390354
Report Number(s):
EURFNR--1099; KFK--1704
Country of Publication:
Germany
Language:
English