Release of Fission Products During In-Pile Melting of UO2
- 1 February 1964
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in Nuclear Science and Engineering
- Vol. 18 (2) , 151-162
- https://doi.org/10.13182/nse64-1
Abstract
A series of experiments to study the amounts and forms of fission products released during simulated reactor accidents is described. These experiments consisted of melting miniature stainless-steel-clad UO2 fuel elements in a helium atmosphere in the Oak Ridge Research Reactor and measuring the fission products released. Fission and gamma heat in the reactor raised the temperature of the miniature fuel element sufficiently high to melt the UO2 without the use of external heat. In these experiments with UO2, nearly all of the iodine, tellurium, and cesium, and more than half of the strontium, zirconium, ruthenium, barium, and cerium were released from the fuel. Release of the latter group of fission products and uranium from a zone including the fuel and surrounding heat insulators was generally less than 3%. The minimum temperature of this zone during fuel melting was 1000 C. The retention of fission products within the high-temperature zone is considered to be significant since, during an actual ...Keywords
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