Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT) (방사성폐기물학회지)

Korean Radioactive Waste Society (한국방사성폐기물학회)
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Review of Instant Release Fractions of Long-lived Radionuclides in CANDU and PWR Spent Nuclear Fuels Under the Geological Disposal Conditions

  • Received : 2022.04.11
  • Accepted : 2022.06.08
  • Published : 2022.06.30
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Abstract

Several countries, including Korea, are considering the direct disposal of spent nuclear fuels. The radiological safety assessment results published after a geological repository closure indicate that the instant release is the main radiation source rather than the congruent release. Three Safety Case reports recently published were reviewed and the IRF values of seven long-lived radionuclides, including relevant experimental results, were compared. According to the literature review, the IRF values of both the CANDU and low burnup PWR spent fuel have been experimentally measured and used reasonably. In particular, the IRF values of volatile long-lived nuclides, such as 129I and 135Cs, were estimated from the FGR value. Because experimental leaching data regarding high burnup spent nuclear fuels are extremely scarce, a mathematical modelling approach proposed by Johnson and McGinnes was successfully applied to the domestic high burnup PWR spent nuclear fuel to derive the IRF values of iodine and cesium. The best estimate of the IRF was 5.5% at a discharge burnup of 55 GWd tHM-1.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and ICT, Republic of Korea, within the framework of the national long-term nuclear R&D program (NRF-2021M2E3A2041312).

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