Fundamental study of fuel debris treatment by the use of mechanochemical method

• Project/Area Number: 24656564
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Nuclear engineering
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: SATO Nobuaki 東北大学, 多元物質科学研究所, 教授 (70154078)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2014-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2013)
• Budget Amount: ¥3,900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥900,000); Fiscal Year 2013: ¥1,690,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥390,000); Fiscal Year 2012: ¥2,210,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥510,000)
• Keywords: 燃料デブリ / ウラン酸化物 / ジルコニウム酸化物 / メカノケミカル処理 / 二硫化炭素 / 選択硫化 / 核燃料 / 硫化処理 / 原子炉事故 / メカノケミカル

Research Abstract

In nuclear reactor accident at Fukushima NPP, the reactor core was damaged by the severe conditions such as very high temperature and sea water injection, forming a huge amount of nuclear fuel waste so called debris fuel. Since UO2 fuel pellets are packed in the zircaloy cladding, the fuel debris consists of the mixture of nuclear fuel and structural materials. In this paper, sulfuization behavior of uranium oxides, zirconium oxide and metal as fuel and structural materials was studied by using carbon disulfide for the sulfurization treatment of fuel debris components. No reaction was observed for Uranium oxides in the presence of CS2 at T<773 K, while metal components, such as zirconium metal shows sulfurization at lower temperature. When the mixture of simulated fuel debris was mechanochemically treated, the interaction of zirconium with UO2 seems to occur forming the UO2-ZrO2 solid solution.

Research Products

• [Journal Article] (2013)
  • Author(s): N. Sato、A. Kirishima
  • Journal Title: Energy Procedia Volume: 7巻 Pages: 102-109
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Apprication of sulfide process to fuel debris treatment (2013)
  • Author(s): N. Sato, A. Kirishima
  • Journal Title: Energy Procedia Volume: 39 Pages: 102-109
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.egypro.2013.07.196
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Presentation] (2013)
  • Author(s): N. Sato、Y. Fukuda、A. Kirishima
  • Organizer: Actinide 2013
  • Place of Presentation: ドイツ、カールスルーエ国際会議場
  • Year and Date: 2013-07-26
• [Presentation] (2013)
  • Author(s): Y. Fukuda、N. Sato、A. Kirishima、T. Sasaki
  • Organizer: Actinide 2013
  • Place of Presentation: ドイツ、カールスルーエ国際会議場
  • Year and Date: 2013-07-23
• [Presentation] Phase Relations of uranium and zirconium oxides at high temperature for fuel debris treatment (2013)
  • Author(s): N. Sato, Y. Fukuda, A. Kirishima, T. Sasaki
  • Organizer: Actinide 2013
  • Place of Presentation: Karsruhe, Germany
• [Presentation] Sulfurization behavior of uranium and zirconium oxides with CS2 (2013)
  • Author(s): Y. Fukuda, N. SAato, A. Kirishima,
  • Organizer: Actinide 203
  • Place of Presentation: Karsruhe, Germany
• [Presentation] “Materials Processing for Fuel Debris Treatment
  • Author(s): Nobuaki Sato
  • Organizer: The 8th Reactive Metal Workshop
  • Place of Presentation: Boston, U.S.A.