Radionuclide transport behavior

Hidaka, Akihide   

Operation of nuclear power plant causes accumulation of radionuclides in fuel rods as a result of nuclear fission of uranium and plutonium. During severe accidents, large amount of radionuclides are released from fuel and transport in the reactor coolant system and/or the containment. When the containment fails or its confinement function is lost, radionuclides could be released into the environment. Meanwhile, radionuclides can be removed by condensation onto wall, natural deposition such as gravitational settling, the engineered safety features (ESF) such as containment spray and so on. After various processes described above, the species, amounts and timing of radionuclide released into the environment is called source terms. The behavior of radionuclide can be described mechanistically by condensation or evaporation of gaseous radionuclide, deposition, growth and removal of aerosol by ESF. Present paper summarizes the radionuclide behavior during severe accidents.