Fabrication of the First-Loading Fuel of the High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor

The High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR). which is the first high temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) in Japan, attained its first criticality in November 1998. The fabrication of the first-loading fuel started June 1995 and in December 1997, 150 fuel assemblies were completely formed. A total of 66,780 fuel compacts, corresponding to 4,770 fuel rods, were successfully produced through the fuel kernel, coated fuel particle and fuel compact processes. Fabrication technology for the fuel was established through a lot of research and development activities and fabrication experiences of irradiation samples. As-fabricated fuel compacts contained almost no through-coatings failed particles and few SiC-defective particles. Average through-coatings and SiC defective fractions were as low as 2 × 10^–6 and 8 × 10^–6, respectively. This paper describes (1) characteristics of as-fabricated fuel, (2) the experiences obtained from the first mass-production and (3) prediction of irradiation performance of the fuel in the HTTR.     

10MW高温气冷实验堆乏燃料元件贮存中放射性裂变产物的安全分析

高温气冷堆乏燃料元件的放射性裂变产物绝大部分滞留在燃料元件中。10MW高温气冷实验堆在设计寿命内将卸出约9万个乏燃料元件,其放射性裂变产物的活度高达1.9×1017Bq,因此正确实施乏燃料元件的贮存,减少放射性裂变产物向环境中释放和进行有效的屏蔽是极其重要的。本文根据乏燃料元件中放射性裂变产物的计算结果和德国高温气冷堆乏燃料元件贮存的经验．对我国10MW高温气冷堆乏燃料元件贮存中放射性裂变产物进行了安全分析。     

Fuel Microstructural Analysis of Incubation Burn-Up for Fission Gas Release

A study was made on an incubation burn-up for fission gas release using fuel swelling microstructural analysis. Conclusions of the study are: (1) The fuel microstructural analysis successfully determined the incubation burn-up. The analyzed values agreed with those estimated by the Halden empirical gas release model. (2) The incubation burn-up obtained from the Halden model was correlated with the fuel center temperature, but the micro-structural analysis was more dependent on the local fuel swelling temperature. (3) The incubation burn-up was attributed to the grain boundary diffusion process and the fuel local gaseous swelling.     

Release Behavior of Fission Gas from Coated Fuel Particles under Irradiation

TRISO coated fuel particles for HTGR were irradiated by two sweep gas capsules in order to study the release behavior of the fission gas and try to predict the failure fraction of the particles on the basis of the measurement. For verification of the predicted failure fraction, post irradiation examination was conducted, and failure fraction in a visual inspection and acid leaching fraction were measured. Agreement between the predicted failure fraction and the acid leaching fraction was good for these samples except one. From the release behavior from the intact particles, in-pile diffusion coefficients of Kr in LTI-PyC were estimated and expressed as D=(2.9–6.0)×10⁴exp(-2.55×10°/RT) (cm²/s), where R ids the gas constant (=8.314 J/K) and T the absolute temperature. It was recognized that the release from failed particles was controlled by diffusion at 1,600°C and that from intact particles, predominantly by recoil at 1,400°C.     

Diffusion and Evaporation of Fission Products in Coated Fuel Particles

Fractional releases of ¹³³Xe, ¹⁴⁰Ba and ⁸⁹Sr from slightly-irradiated pyrolytic-carbon-coated and SiC-coated particles were measured over a temperature range of 1,200°–1,750°C. The results are analyzed mathematically in order to obtain the diffusion and evaporation coefficients relevant to PyC and SiC. The resulting expressions for the coefficient of diffusion in PyC are 2.9x10-⁷ exp(-61x10³/RT) for ¹³³Xe and 4.7x10-² exp(51x10³/RT) for ¹⁴⁰Ba. For the coefficients of evaporation of ¹⁴⁰Ba from PyC, the expression is 3.5x10³ exp(-42x10³ /RT). As for SiC, the diffusion and evaporation coefficients of these nuclides are given for a temperature of 1,750°C. A high diffusivity path for the diffusion of ¹⁴⁰Ba is postulated to explain the difference in diffusion behavior between ¹³³Xe and ¹⁴⁰Ba in PyC.     

Fission Products Release from Irradiated FBR MOX Fuel during Transient Conditions

Out-of-pile experiments on the release of fission products (FPs) under transient heating conditions were carried out for mixed oxide fuels. The fuels used in the experiments, the plutonium content of which was 30 wt%, were irradiated up to 65 GWd/t in the experimental fast reactor JOYO. The experiments consisted of two runs, FP-1 and FP-2. In FP-1, the fuel sample was first heated to 2,000°C and then up to 3,000°C. The holding time was 30 min at each temperature. In FP-2, the terminal temperatures were 1,500°C and 2,500°C, and the holding time was 30 min in the same manner.

The release ofCs, a volatile FP, was detected as soon as the fuel sample was heated up. The release rate, after peaking in several minutes, decreased gradually via a diffusion process in the fuel matrix. The “gross” diffusion coefficient agreed well with the data reported in other experiments using LWR fuels. The release fractions were identical in both experiments, namely Cs ～100%, Sb ～100%, Ru ～10%, Ce ～0% and Eu ～0%.     

Effects of Fuel Oxidation and Dissolution on Volatile Fission Product Release under Severe Accident Conditions

The release of volatile fission products from high-burnup UO₂ fuel was examined in a steam atmosphere under severe accident conditions as a part of the VEGA program. The effects of fuel oxidation and dissolution were totally evaluated, by comparing the results with those from previous inert, hydrogen and steam atmosphere tests. It was shown that the oxidation of UO₂ to UO_2+x by steam generally enhances Cs and Kr release. However, the enhancement becomes smaller above the melting temperature of Zircaloy, about 2030 K, likely due to reduction of UO_2+x by molten Zircaloy. The burst release of Cs occurs above about 2300K in the hydrogen atmosphere, while the release rate does not increase so significantly for the examined temperature range (<2800 K) in the steam atmosphere. Analysis of the hydrogen atmosphere test showed that fuel dissolution is apparently connected with the burst release and that a large fraction of Cs is quickly released from the dissolved fuel above 2300 K. It is considered that the fuel dissolution rate in the steam atmosphere is about 1/1000 of that in the hydrogen atmosphere.     

Fission Product Model for BWR Analysis with Improved Accuracy in High Burnup

A new fission product (FP) chain model has been studied to be used in a BWR lattice calculation. In attempting to establish the model, two requirements, i.e. the accuracy in predicting burnup reactivity and the easiness in practical application, are simultaneously considered. The resultant FP model consists of 81 explicit FP nuclides and two lumped pseudo nuclides having the absorption cross sections independent of burnup history and fuel composition. For the verification, extensive numerical tests covering over a wide range of operational conditions and fuel compositions have been carried out. The results indicate that the estimated errors in burnup reactivity are within 0.1Δk for exposures up to 100GWd/t. It is concluded that the present model can offer a high degree of accuracy for FP representation in BWR lattice calculation.     

Prediction of Nongaseous Fission Products Behavior in the Primary Cooling System of High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor

In high temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGRs), some amounts of fission products (FPs) are released mainly from fuel with failed coatings and are transported in the primary cooling system with the primary coolant during normal operation. In that case, condensable FPs plateout on the inner surface of components in the primary cooling system. On the other hand, since the HTGRs use helium gas as primary coolant, the primary coolant is not activated itself and very small amount of corrosion products is generated. Then, γ-ray emitted from the FPs becomes main source in shielding design of the HTGRs, and not only release amount from fuel but also plateout distributions of the FPs should be properly evaluated. Therefore, prediction of plateout behavior in the primary cooling system of HTGRs was carried out based on the calculation result of plateout distribution in High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor. Before the calculation, analytical model was verified by comparison with experimentally obtained plateout distributions and the applicability of the model to predict the plateout distributions in the primary cooling system of HTGR was certified.

This report describes the predicted result of plateout distribution in the primary cooling system of HTGR together with the verification result of the analytical model.     

Behavior of Iodine-131 during Rinsing In-Pile Loop with Demineralized Water after Fission Product Release Experiment

After a fission product release experiment in one of the in-pile water loops (OWL-1) of Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, the loop was flushed with fresh water and the concentration of ¹³¹I in the water was measured to clarify the behavior of ¹³¹I remaining in the loop.

When the clean up system was shut off, the ¹³¹I concentration in the water gradually increased and reached a maximum after about 3 days and then decreased at the rate corresponding to the half-life of ¹³¹I. From the results, some equations were mathematically derived, which predict not only the variation of ¹³¹I concentration in the water, but also the relationship between the amounts of ¹³¹I in the rinsing water and on the system walls.     

Sensitivity Analysis of Fission Product Concentrations for Light Water Reactor Burned Fuel

The accurate prediction of fission product concentrations (FPCs) is necessary for application of the burnup credit to nuclear facilities. In order to specify important nuclear data for the accurate prediction of FPC, we extensively evaluate the sensitivities of FPC to nuclear data with the depletion perturbation theory. The target fission products are twelve important ones for the burnup credit, Mo-95, Tc-99, Rh-103, Nd-143, Nd-145, Sm-147, Sm-149, Sm-150, Sm-152, Cs-133, Eu-153, and Gd-155. The present study successfully specifies the important nuclear data both in a UO₂ cell and in a MOX cell. While the obtained sensitivities are mostly similar to each other between the UO₂ and MOX cells, large differences are observed in some cases, such as the Gd-155 concentration. It is clearly shown that such differences between the UO₂ and MOX cells come from differences in cumulative fission yields between U-235 and Pu-239 and differences in neutron flux energy spectra.     

HFETR堆芯燃料管理计算方法的研究

研究了高通量工程试验堆（ＨＦＥＴＲ）堆芯燃料管理计算方法,以栅元计算程序ＷＩＭＳ－Ｄ４－ＣＮＰＲＩ和三维节块程序ＳＩＸＴＵＳ－３为基础,研制了ＨＦＥＴＲ堆芯燃料管理计算软件包ＨＦＥＴＲＦＭ。并对高通量工程试验堆首炉堆芯进行了计算,取得了令人满意的结果。     

破损燃料组件中裂变产物向冷却剂释放量计算

分析包壳破损情况下裂变产物从燃料芯块向冷却剂的释放机理,建立裂变产物从燃料芯块向冷却剂的释放量的计算模型;采用CPR1000机型的设计参数对燃料包壳破损率、包壳破损尺寸和燃耗开展敏感性分析,计算等效逃脱率系数并与AP1000设计控制文件中给出的逃脱率系数进行比较。结果表明,包壳破损尺寸对裂变产物释放的影响较大,燃耗和包壳破损率对裂变产物释放影响较小。在包壳破口尺寸为34μm时,采用建立的计算模型计算所得部分核素的等效逃脱率系数与AP1000设计控制文件中给出的逃脱率系数极为接近。     

堆芯微型直流裂变室堆内高温性能试验

本文介绍了在游泳池式轻水反应堆堆芯孔道内用简易γ发热器对堆芯微型直流裂变室进行高温性能试验的情况,给出了该裂变室在高温下的饱和特性和温度循环下的性能。     

Behavior of Fission Products Zirconium and Barium in Fast Reactor Fuel Irradiated to High Burnup

Barium and Zr generated in nuclear fuels can precipitate as multi-component oxide with some other fission products. In addition, the solubility of Ba in the fuel depends on the oxygen potential and the temperature and Zr can easily dissolve into the fuel matrix. Therefore, the behavior of the Ba-Zr oxide inclusions during irradiation is rather complex. In this work, the composition of multi-component oxides and the distributions of Ba and Zr as a function of relative radius were evaluated with X-ray microanalysis. As results, the oxide inclusions containing both Ba and Zr and containing only Ba were observed in the fuel irradiated to the burnup of 13.3 and 10.6 at%, respectively. These results were discussed in terms of the solubility of Ba and Zr in the fuel and in terms of the rO₂–UO₂ phase diagram, together with the radial distributions of Ba and Zr in fuel matrix.     

Research and Development of HTTR Coated Particle Fuel

The coated particle fuel has been developed within a framework of the HTTR (High Temperature engineering Test Reactor) Development Program at the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute. The HTTR fuel is a prismatic block type containing TRISO-coated U0₂ particles. Research and development on the fuel has been progressed in three categories; a work for fuel production technology, a proof test of fuel performance and a safety-related research. In the present report the concept and outline of the fuel in the HTTR design are firstly described, and then fuel fabrication technology including recently developed methods for improving fuel quality is followed. Tests for proving fuel performance have been carried out extensively on the reference fuel of the HTTR design by irradiation in an in-pile gas loop and capsules, and typical results are presented in this report. Concerning the safety-related research, fuel failure and ¹³⁷Cs release at abnormally high temperature are described.     

High Power Irradiation Test of TA#2R in JPDR Monkey Project,Part I

Irradiation tests on a fuel rod in locally enhanced heat flux were undertaken in the Japan Power Demonstration Reactor, with the use of a modified form of the experimental fuel assembly TA# 2R. The report covers design calculations for this test fuel assembly, out-pile experiments and analysis of various safety problems related to in-core irradiation of the assembly (effects of fuel loading on surrounding core), and it is shown that it is possible to irradiate the fuel rod in heat flux as high as 500,000 Btu/hr-ft².