The behaviour under irradiation of molybdenum matrix for inert matrix fuel containing americium oxide (CerMet concept)

JOURNAL OF NUCLEAR MATERIALS

卷:465

Article; Proceedings Paper

D'Agata, E.¹  Knol, S.²  Fedorov, A. V.²  Fernandez, A.³  Somers, J.³  Klaassen, F.² 

[1] Commiss European Communities, Inst Energy & Transport, Joint Res Ctr, NL-1755 ZG Petten, Netherlands

[2] Nucl Res & Consultancy Grp, NL-1755 ZG Petten, Netherlands

[3] Commiss European Communities, Joint Res Ctr, Inst Transuranium Elements, D-76125 Karlsruhe, Germany

关键词: Uranium free fuels;    Minor actinides;    Molybdenum;    Transmutation;    Americium;    Boron;    HELIOS;    BODEX;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.jnucmat.2015.07.021

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Americium is a strong contributor to the long term radiotoxicity of high activity nuclear waste. Transmutation by irradiation in nuclear reactors or Accelerator Driven System (ADS, subcritical reactors dedicated to transmutation) of long-lived nuclides like Am-241 is therefore an option for the reduction of radiotoxicity of waste packages to be stored in a repository. In order to safely burn americium in a fast reactor or ADS, it must be incorporated in a matrix that could be metallic (CerMet target) or ceramic (CerCer target). One of the most promising matrix to incorporate Am is molybdenum. In order to address the issues (swelling, stability under irradiation, gas retention and release) of using Mo as matrix to transmute Am, two irradiation experiments have been conducted recently at the High Flux Reactor (HFR) in Petten (The Netherland) namely HELLOS and BODEX The BODEX experiment is a separate effect test, where the molybdenum behaviour is studied without the presence of fission products using B-10 to produce helium, the HELIOS experiment included a more representative fuel target with the presence of Am and fission product. This paper covers the results of Post Irradiation Examination (PIE) of the two irradiation experiments mentioned above where molybdenum behaviour has been deeply investigated as possible matrix to transmute americium (CerMet fuel target). The behaviour of molybdenum looks satisfying at operating temperature but at high temperature (above 1000 degrees C) more investigation should be performed. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

【 授权许可】

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