Chemical state analysis of simulated corium debris by EXAFS

Okamoto, Yoshihiro  ; Takano, Masahide 

Chemical state of some simulated corium debris samples containing uranium (fuel), zirconium (fuel cladding), iron (structure material), calcium (cement) and lanthanides (fission products) was investigated by synchrotron radiation based extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) analysis. The local structure of uranium for the simulated debris was classified into fluorite UO structure and C-type structure (stabilized cubic). The UZrFeCaO sample, which consists of single phase (C-type), shows slightly shorter U-O distance. It can be concluded that the sample contains pentavalent uranium. The local structure of zirconium for U-Zr-O and U-Zr-Fe-O systems was very close to tetragonal ZrO, while that of zirconium changed to CSZ (calcia stabilized cubic) by adding calcium.