Preliminary results of the MARIOS experiment on minor actinide bearing blanket concept

Americium is a strong contributor to the long term radiotoxicity of high level waste from spent fuel. Transmutation by irradiation in nuclear reactors of long-lived nuclides like 241Am is therefore an option for the reduction of radiotoxicity, residual power and repository area. One of the most attractive routes to burn Minor Actinides (MAs) is represented by the Minor Actinide Bearing Blanket (MABB) concept, where MA are diluted in a UO2 matrix and irradiated for a long time (4,100 EFPD) in radial blankets at the periphery of the core of a sodium fast reactor. The MARIOS irradiation experiment is the latest of a series of experiments on americium transmutation (e.g. EFTTRA-T4, EFTTRA-T4bis, HELIOS). Moreover, MARIOS, together with the DIAMINO experiment under preparation in the OSIRIS reactor in France, is dealing with the study of the in-pile behaviour of UO2 containing Minor Actinides (MAs) in order to gain knowledge on the influence of temperature and microstructure on the gas release and on fuel swelling for the MABB concept. The MARIOS experiment is carried out in the framework of the 4-year project FAIRFUELS of the EURATOM 7th Framework Programme (FP7). The MARIOS experiment was conducted in the HFR (High Flux Reactor) in Petten (The Netherlands) and started in March 2011. It lasted 11 cycles, corresponding approximately to 11 months. This paper covers the description and the objectives of the experiment, as well as the preliminary results in term of first assessment and temperature recording.

D'AGATA Elio;  HANIA Ralph;  BEJAOUI Syriac;  SCIOLLA Carla;  WYATT Thom;  HANNINK Marieke;  HERLET Nathalie;  JANKOWIAK Aurelien;  KLAASSEN F.;  BONNEROT Jean-Marc; 

2013-05-30

Nuclear Energy Agency (OECD)

JRC77556

http://www.oecd-nea.org/globalsearch/download.php?doc=78102,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC77556,