Leaching of137Cs,134Cs, and129I from Irradiated UO2Fuel

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Abstract
The relationship between the quantity of iodine and cesium present in the fuel-sheath gap region and the amount of stable fission gas released from the fuel matrix has been investigated for typical natural UO2 Canada deuterium uranium power reactor fuels. Two leaching techniques were employed to determine the fuel-sheath gap inventories of cesium and iodine, and their respective release fractions were derived from these. The I37Cs/Xe and 134Cs/Xe release ratios were close to one over nearly three orders of magnitude of release fraction. Limited data suggest that 129I may show similar behavior. The experiments were performed in support of the safety assessment of irradiated fuel disposal and may have further application to fuel storage and reactor safety studies.