Thermodynamic and experimental analyses of the oxidation behavior of UO2 pellets in damaged fuel rods of pressurized water reactors

A small leak occurring on the surface of a fuel rod due to damage exposes UO2 to a steam atmosphere. During this time, fission gas trapped inside the fuel rod leaks out, and the gas leakage can be increased due to UO2 oxidation. Numerous studies have focused on the steam oxidation and its thermodyna...

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Published inNuclear engineering and technology Vol. 52; no. 12; pp. 2880 - 2886
Main Authors Jung, Tae-Sik, Na, Yeon-Soo, Joo, Min-Jae, Lim, Kwang-Young, Kim, Yoon-Ho, Lee, Seung-Jae
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Elsevier B.V 01.12.2020
Elsevier
한국원자력학회
Subjects
Oxygen potential
Pellet radius reduction time
TGA steam oxidation
UO2 oxidation
원자력공학
Oxygen potential
UO2 oxidation
TGA steam oxidation
Pellet radius reduction time
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Summary:A small leak occurring on the surface of a fuel rod due to damage exposes UO2 to a steam atmosphere. During this time, fission gas trapped inside the fuel rod leaks out, and the gas leakage can be increased due to UO2 oxidation. Numerous studies have focused on the steam oxidation and its thermodynamic calculation in UO2. However, the thermodynamic calculation of the UO2 oxidation in a pressurized water reactor (PWR) environment has not been studied extensively. Moreover, the kinetics of the oxidation of UO2 pellet also has not been investigated. Therefore, in this study, the thermodynamics of UO2 oxidation under steam injection due to a damaged fuel rod in a PWR environment is studied. In addition, the diminishing radius of the UO2 pellet with time in the PWR environment was calculated through an experiment simulating the initial time of steam injection at the puncture.
ISSN:1738-5733
2234-358X
DOI:10.1016/j.net.2020.05.007