Estimation of hydrogen gas production at transient criticality in uranyl nitrate solution

Yoshida, Ryoichiro ; Yamane, Yuichi  ; Abe, Hitoshi 

In a criticality accident, it is known that some kinds of radiolysis gases are generated mainly due to kinetic energy of fission fragments. Hydrogen gas (H) is one of them, which is able to initiate explosion. The rate of H generation and its total amount can be estimated from the number of fission per second if its G value is known. In this study, it was tried to estimate G value of hydrogen gas (G(H)) by using the H concentration measured as time-series data in Transient Experiment Critical Facility (TRACY) which was carried out by Japan Atomic Energy Agency. There was time lag in the measured H concentration from its generation. To overcome those problems, measured profile of H concentration was reproduced based on a hypothetical model and its total amount was evaluated. Based on the model, the obtained G(H) was 1.2.