Abstract
The interactions of iodine and caesium in UO2 have been investigated. For this purpose, implanted UO2 samples were thermally treated (4h at 900°C or 1h at 1200°C) under controlled atmosphere (0.03% H2O/H2) and then characterized by several experimental techniques for their structural and chemical studies. Thermodynamic calculations were also performed in order to optimize heat treatment conditions before performing tests, and to help in the interpretation of results afterwards. The sample characterizations after thermal treatments reveal the presence of bubbles and precipitates (mean diameter around 10 - 20 nm) and have allowed to clearly identify the presence of CsI in these bubbles which is in agreement with the calculations. The chemical form of the observed precipitates is not well defined yet, due to the lack of experimental reference spectra, but they consist very likely of caesium uranates, as predicted by the thermodynamic calculations.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 154450 |
Number of pages | 16 |
Journal | Journal of Nuclear Materials |
Volume | 581 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Keywords
- Caesium
- Iodine
- Iodine induced stress corrosion cracking (I-SCC)
- Microstructure
- Nuclear fuel
- Speciation
- Thermodynamics