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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.net.2020.05.007

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

Jung, Tae-Sik (Materials Development Section of Nuclear Fuel Technology Department, KEPCO Nuclear Fuel)
Na, Yeon-Soo (Materials Development Section of Nuclear Fuel Technology Department, KEPCO Nuclear Fuel)
Joo, Min-Jae (Materials Development Section of Nuclear Fuel Technology Department, KEPCO Nuclear Fuel)
Lim, Kwang-Young (Materials Development Section of Nuclear Fuel Technology Department, KEPCO Nuclear Fuel)
Kim, Yoon-Ho (Materials Development Section of Nuclear Fuel Technology Department, KEPCO Nuclear Fuel)
Lee, Seung-Jae (Materials Development Section of Nuclear Fuel Technology Department, KEPCO Nuclear Fuel)
Publication Information
Nuclear Engineering and Technology / v.52, no.12, 2020 , pp. 2880-2886 More about this Journal
Abstract
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.
Keywords
$UO_2$ oxidation; Oxygen potential; TGA steam oxidation; Pellet radius reduction time;
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