Physico-chemical characterization of a spent UO2 fuel with respect to its stability under final disposal conditions

Two adjacent fuel rod segments were irradiated in a pressurized water reactor achieving an average burn-up of 50.4 GWd/tHM. A physico-chemical characterisation of the high burn-up fuel rod segments was performed, to determine properties relevant to the stability of the spent nuclear fuel under final disposal conditions. No damage of the cladding was observed by means of visual examination and γ-scanning. The maximal oxide layer thickness was 45 µm. The relative fission gas release was determined to be 8.35%. Finally, a rim thickness of 83.7 µm and a rim porosity of about 20% were derived from characterisation of the cladded pellets.

GONZALEZ-ROBLES Ernesto;  WEGEN Detlef;  BOHNERT E.;  PAPAIOANNOU Dimitrios;  MÜLLER Nikolaus;  NASYROW Ramil;  KIENZLER B.;  METZ V.; 

2014-12-09

Materials Research Society

JRC85861

9781605116426,   

http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=9295294&fileId=S1946427414006563,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC85861,   

10.1557/opl.2014.656,