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Ruthenium behavior in the reactor cooling system in case of a PWR severe accident

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Abstract

In the frame of severe accident topic for pressurized water reactor, the physical-chemistry of Ru fission products were experimentally studied to better understand their behavior inside the reactor coolant system in air or air/steam atmospheres. The tests consisted in vaporizing RuO2 at 1200 °C and the ruthenium oxides are transported through a controlled thermal gradient tube made of quartz or pre-oxidized stainless steel. Results show that the major part up to 95% is deposited along the tube, the remaining part being transported almost under gaseous form attributed to RuO4. Impact of carrier gas, temperature profile and nature of the tube are discussed.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the OECD/NEA/CSNI hosting the STEM project and the STEM project partners: Electricité De France, Canadian National Laboratories (Canada), Teknologian tutkimuskeskus VTT (Finland), Nuclear Research Institute (Czech Republic), Gesellschaft für Anlagen−und Reaktorsicherheit (Germany), Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USA), Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute and Korea Institute for Nuclear Safety (South Korea). The authors also thank the CNRS Grenoble LEPMI for Raman spectrometry (A. Kasperski), the CNRS Villeurbanne (ISA) for the measurements of Ru deposit with the alkaline fusion method (L. Ayouni) and K. Boucault, C. Gomez, N. Monchalin, S. Souvi, L. Cantrel and C. Mun from IRSN for their technical contribution and fruitful discussion.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN), PSN-RES, Cadarache, Saint-Paul-Lez-Durance, 13115, France

    M. N. Ohnet & O. Leroy

  2. Univ. Lille, CNRS, ENSCL, Centrale Lille, Univ. Artois, UMR 8181– UCCS – Unité de Catalyse et Chimie du Solide, Lille, 59000, France

    A. S. Mamede

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Ohnet, M.N., Leroy, O. & Mamede, A.S. Ruthenium behavior in the reactor cooling system in case of a PWR severe accident. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 316, 161–177 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-018-5743-2

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