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Grain Size and Burnup Dependence of Spent Fuel Oxidation: Geological Repository Impact

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2011

E. J. Kansa ,
B. D. Hanson  and
R. B. Stout
E. J. Kansa
Affiliation:
Earth and Environmental Sciences Directorate, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, P.O. Box 808, L-200, Livermore, CA 94551-9989 ([email protected])
B. D. Hanson
Affiliation:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, P.O. Box 999, Mail Stop P7-27, Richland, WA 99352
R. B. Stout
Affiliation:
Earth and Environmental Sciences Directorate, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, P.O. Box 808, L-200, Livermore, CA 94551-9989 ([email protected])
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Abstract

Further refinements to the oxidation model of Stout et al. have been made. The present model incorporates the burnup dependence of the oxidation rate and an allowance for a distribution of grain sizes. The model was tested by comparing the model results with the oxidation histories of spent-fuel samples oxidized in thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) or oven dry-bath (ODB) experiments. The experimental and model results are remarkably close and confirm the assumption that grain-size distributions and activation energies are the important parameters to predicting oxidation behavior. The burnup dependence of the activation energy was shown to have a greater effect than decreasing the effective grain size in suppressing the rate of the reaction U4O9→U3O8. Model results predict that U3O8 formation of spent fuels exposed to oxygen will be suppressed even for high burnup fuels that have undergone restructuring in the rim region, provided the repository temperature is kept sufficiently low.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 556: Symposium QQ – Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management XXII , 1999 , 455
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1999

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References

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