Gaseous fission product release during storage at various temperatures for HTGR-type fuels

Technical Report · Sat Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 1978

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/7068303· OSTI ID:7068303

Fitzgerald, C. L.; Shannon, R. J.; Vaughen, V. C.A.

Measurements were made of gaseous fission product releases from an HTGR-type fuel body under conditions simulating storage at temperatures up to 300/sup 0/C. The fuel was a recycle test element containing BISO-BISO coated fuel particles which had been irradiated for 701 effective full-power days in the Peach Bottom HTGR. Storage test temperatures were ambient (about 30/sup 0/C), 100, 150, 200, and 300/sup 0/C. The initial release rates of /sup 85/Kr varied after each change in temperature. A fairly stable release rate was reached that increased from approximately 60 ..mu..Ci/day at ambient temperature to approximately 1000 ..mu..Ci/day after 30 days at 200/sup 0/C and slowly decreased to about 200 ..mu..Ci/day after 554 days at 200/sup 0/C. In the experiment at 300/sup 0/C, a final release rate of 4000 ..mu..Ci/day was attained after 66 days. The releases of /sup 85/Kr were followed for about two and one-half years. The stabilized release rates for /sup 3/H were approximately 0.02 ..mu..Ci/day at ambient temperature, approximately 0.750 ..mu..Ci/day at 200/sup 0/C after 30 days, and 0.460 ..mu..Ci/day after 554 days. The final release rate at 300/sup 0/C was about 30 ..mu..Ci/day after 66 days.Over the lifetime of the experiment, approximately 22% of the initial /sup 85/Kr inventory was evolved and swept out, and approximately 4% of the initial /sup 3/H inventory was evolved and swept out. The activation energies calculated for the Kr and /sup 3/H evolution were approximately 7.8 kcal/mole and approximately 12.4 kcal/mole, respectively.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-26
• OSTI ID: 7068303
• Report Number(s): ORNL/TM-6409; TRN: 78-016044
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
HTGR TYPE REACTORS
SPENT FUEL STORAGE
FISSION PRODUCT RELEASE
ACTIVATION ENERGY
COATED FUEL PARTICLES
KRYPTON 85
PEACH BOTTOM-1 REACTOR
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE
TRITIUM
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
ENERGY
ENRICHED URANIUM REACTORS
EVEN-ODD NUCLEI
FUEL PARTICLES
GAS COOLED REACTORS
GRAPHITE MODERATED REACTORS
HELIUM COOLED REACTORS
HOURS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
HYDROGEN ISOTOPES
INTERMEDIATE MASS NUCLEI
ISOMERIC TRANSITION ISOTOPES
ISOTOPES
KRYPTON ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
POWER REACTORS
RADIOISOTOPES
REACTORS
THERMAL REACTORS
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
050900* - Nuclear Fuels- Transport
Handling
& Storage