Fission gas release in irradiated UO fuel at burnup of 45 GWd/t during simulated Reactivity Initiated Accident (RIA) condition

燃焼度45GWd/tの照射済UO燃料における模擬反応度事故(RIA)中の核分裂生成ガス放出挙動

天谷 政樹  ; 杉山 智之 ; 更田 豊志

Amaya, Masaki; Sugiyama, Tomoyuki; Fuketa, Toyoshi

商用炉で照射された燃料から調製した試験燃料棒に対し、反応度事故条件を模擬したパルス照射を行った。パルス照射後に実施した照射後試験の一部として、試験燃料棒の光学顕微鏡及び走査型電子顕微鏡による観察とEPMAによる分析を行った。パルス照射後の燃料ペレット周辺部及び中心部でXe濃度の低下が認められた。パルス照射中のFPガス放出はおもにペレット中心部で生じたものと考えられる。EPMAの結果からパルス照射中のFPガス放出量は10-12%と評価され、この結果はパンクチャ試験結果と同程度であった。この評価値と炉外アニーリング試験結果とを比較した結果、ペレット中心部からベース照射中に粒界に蓄積されたFPガスのほとんどがパルス照射中に放出されたと考えられた。

Pulse irradiation simulating RIA condition was carried out for test rod prepared from fuel irradiated in a commercial reactor. After the pulse irradiation, optical microscopy (OM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations and electron probe micro analysis (EPMA) were conducted for the test rod as a part of destructive tests. Fission gas release behavior during pulse irradiation was investigated by EPMA and puncture test. Xeon depression was observed in the fuel pellet after pulse irradiation at periphery and center region. It is considered that fission gas was mainly released from the pellet center region during pulse irradiation. The amount of xenon release during pulse irradiation was estimated to be 10-12% from the EPMA results and this estimated value was comparable with the puncture test result. Comparing the estimated value with other results of out-of-pile annealing tests, it was concluded that most fission gas, which was accumulated at grain boundary during base irradiation, was released from the center region of test fuel pellet during pulse irradiation.