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Interaction of UO2 and Zircaloy During the Chernobyl Accident

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 September 2012

S. V. Ushakov ,
B. E. Burakov ,
S. I. Shabalev  and
E. B. Anderson
S. V. Ushakov
Affiliation:
V. G. Khlopin Radium Institute, 28, 2-nd Murinsky ave., 194021, St. Petersburg, Russia
B. E. Burakov
Affiliation:
V. G. Khlopin Radium Institute, 28, 2-nd Murinsky ave., 194021, St. Petersburg, Russia
S. I. Shabalev
Affiliation:
V. G. Khlopin Radium Institute, 28, 2-nd Murinsky ave., 194021, St. Petersburg, Russia
E. B. Anderson
Affiliation:
V. G. Khlopin Radium Institute, 28, 2-nd Murinsky ave., 194021, St. Petersburg, Russia
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Abstract

A summary of the results collected during the studies of the products of a chemical interaction between uranium oxide fuel and Zircaloy cladding in the Chernobyl accident is presented in this paper. The reaction products are mainly Zr-U-containing phases with different U/Zr ratio and are described on the basis of electron microprobe and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses. The Zr-U-bearing phases were discovered among the inclusions in different types of Chernobyl fuel-containing masses (”lava”) inside the destroyed 4th Unit and in hot particles collected up to 12 km from the 4th Unit along the West Plume. A correlation of data on the chemical composition and phase interrelations obtained in investigated samples with a phase diagram of Zr(O) - UO2 shows, that a temperature >1900 °C was reached in a part of the core before the explosion. The detection of hot particle with segregated morphology points out that liquid immiscibility existed between U-rich and Zr-rich melts. This and other observations indicate that the core temperature locally was above 2400–2600°C.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 465: Symposium II – Scienfific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management XX , 1996 , 1313
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1997

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References

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