IMPACT OF THE IRRADIATION HISTORY OF NUCLEAR FUELS ON THE CORROSION BEHAVIOUR IN A DISPOSAL ENVIRONMENT

Nuclear fuel becomes a very heterogeneous material during irradiation both from a structural and from a compositional point of view. Also the composition, i.e. the content of higher actinides formed by neutron capture and the fission product content increases with burn-up. Detailed post irradiation examination using optical, scanning or transmission electron microscopy, electron microprobe analysis, Knudsen cell, gamma scanning but also chemical analysis, allow to characterise the fuel changes during irradiation. It was shown that the irradiation history and here first of all the linear power reached in the fuel, is the dominating cause of the above mentioned phenomena. All these modification affect the fuel corrosion behaviour in a repository in the situation of failure of all retention barriers.

SERRANO PURROY Daniel;  GLATZ Jean-Paul; 

2013-08-30

KIT Scientific Publishing

JRC83471

978-3-86644-980-0,   

https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC83471,