Studies of Ceramic Fuels with Use of Fission Gas Release Loop, (IV) : Fission Gas Release from Uranium Carbide in the Presence of Trace Amounts of Water Vapor

概要

論文の詳細を見る
In-pile release of fission gas from sintered UC pellets in the presence of 8230 ppm of water vapor in the He sweep gas was measured over the temperature range of 160°1, 000°C.A very complex release behavior was observed and the mechanisms of release were deduced from the manner in which the release depended on the decay constant. It was established that the release of short-lived fission gases during irradiation was controlled mainly by pseudo-recoil, while chemical reaction between UC and water vapor, as well as knock-out, appeared to con-tribute much more significantly in the case of the longer-lived fission gases. The release of fission gas after reactor shutdown was shown to be governed by the UC-H<SUB>2</SUB>O reaction. The ratio of the release due to this reaction in reference to the total release was found to be de-pendent not only on the concentration of the water vapor but also on the amount present of the accumulated reaction products. Also, a discussion is given on the inordinately high release of <SUP>135m</SUP>Xe observed at 600°C.