Data summary report for fission product release test VI-4

Technical Report · Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1991

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6340878· OSTI ID:6340878

Obsorne, M F; Lorenz, R A; Collins, J L; Travis, J R; Webster, C S; Nakamura, T ^[1]

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1. Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (USA)

This was the fourth in a series of high-temperature fission product release tests in a vertical test apparatus. The test specimen, a 15.2-cm-long section of a fuel rod from the BR3 reactor in Belgium, had been irradiated to a burnup of 47 MWd/kg. In simulation of a severe accident in a light-water reactor, it was heated in hydrogen in a hot cell-mounted test apparatus to a maximum test temperature of 2400 K for a period of 20 min. The released fission products were collected on components designed to facilitate sampling and analysis. On-line radioactivity measurements and posttest inspection revealed that the fuel had partially collapsed at about the time the cladding melted. Based on fission product inventories measured in the fuel or calculated by ORIGEN2, analyses of test components showed total releases from the fuel of 85% for {sup 85}Kr, <1% for {sup 106}Ru, 3.9% for {sup 125}Sb, 96% for both {sup 134}Cs and {sup 137}Cs, and 13% for {sup 154}Eu. Large fractions of the released fission products (up to 96% of the {sup 154}Eu) were retained in the furnace. Small release fractions for several other fission products -- Rb, Br, Sr, Te, I, and Ba -- were detected also. In addition, very small amounts of fuel material -- uranium and plutonium -- were released. Total mass release from the furnace to the collection system, which included fission products, fuel material, and structural materials, was 0.40g, with 40% of this material being deposited as vapor and 60% of it being collected as aerosols. The results from this test were compared with previous tests in this series and with an in-pile test at similar conditions at Sandia National Laboratories. There was no indication that the mode of heating (fission heat vs radiant heat) significantly affected fission product release. 24 refs., 25 figs., 14 tabs.

• Research Organization: Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC (USA). Div. of Systems Research; Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USNRC
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-84OR21400
• OSTI ID: 6340878
• Report Number(s): NUREG/CR-5481; ORNL/TM-11400; ON: TI91006817; TRN: 91-004146
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
FISSION PRODUCTS
FUEL RODS
FISSION PRODUCT RELEASE
AEROSOLS
CESIUM
EUROPIUM
FUEL CANS
GAMMA SPECTROSCOPY
IODINE
O CODES
PLUTONIUM
RADIOISOTOPES
TEST FACILITIES
URANIUM
VERY HIGH TEMPERATURE
ACTINIDES
ALKALI METALS
COLLOIDS
COMPUTER CODES
DISPERSIONS
ELEMENTS
FUEL ELEMENTS
HALOGENS
ISOTOPES
MATERIALS
METALS
NONMETALS
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RARE EARTHS
REACTOR COMPONENTS
SOLS
SPECTROSCOPY
TRANSURANIUM ELEMENTS
220502* - Nuclear Reactor Technology- Environmental Aspects- Radioactive Effluents
220300 - Nuclear Reactor Technology- Fuel Elements