Oxidation rate of K-Basin spent nuclear fuel in moist air

Abrefah, J.; Buchanan, H.C.; Marschman, S.C.

doi:10.2172/291176

Cited by 2 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…moist air oxidation rates to generally agree with the literature based on moist air oxidation of unirradiated uranium (Abrefah 1997). environments in addition to dry and moist air that are of interest to the process and safety calculations include steam, moist inert gas mixtures, hydrogen, and also nitrogen (Lawrence 1997).…”

Section: Issues For K East Fuel Therho-gravimetric Analysis Testingsupporting

confidence: 66%

Strategy for thermo-gravimetric analysis of K East fuel samples

Lawrence¹

1997

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Section: Issues For K East Fuel Therho-gravimetric Analysis Testingsupporting

confidence: 66%

Strategy for thermo-gravimetric analysis of K East fuel samples

Lawrence¹

1997

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“…Consequently, the SNF characterization strategy at Hanford included experimental studies to determine the oxidation behavior of the corroded K-Basin SNF samples in different atmospheres using a furnace tube and thermo-gravimetric (TGA) systems (Abrefah et al 1998a;Abrefah et al 1998b;Abrefah et al 1999). The moist-atmosphere study is reviewed in this report to establish the K-Basin SNF reaction-rate constant.…”

Section: Snf Oxidation In Moist Atmospheresmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A review of metallic uranium oxidation behavior in moist air by Pearce et al (Pearce 1988) concluded that the oxidation rate of irradiated, and hence swollen, uranium was independent of the partial pressure of water vapor. However, because the oxidation behavior of the damaged/corroded SNF metallic uranium in dry air (Abrefah et al 1998a) showed some tendency towards a higher oxidation rate at lower temperatures, a few tests were performed in a moist-air atmosphere using the thermo-gravimetric system (Abrefah et al 1998b). The linear oxidation rates for three SNF material runs are compared to the rate equations from a report by Pearce et al (Pearce 1988) in Figure 2.1 for moist-and dry-air atmospheres.…”

Section: Moist-air Oxidationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reactive Behavior of K-Basin Spent Nuclear Fuel

Abrefah¹,

Siciliano²,

Damschen³

et al. 2002

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ph: (865) 576-8401 fax: (865) 576-5728 email: reports@adonis.osti.gov Available to the public from the National Technical Information Service, U.S. Department of Commerce, 5285 Port Royal Rd., Springfield, VA 22161 ph: (800) 553-6847 fax: (703) 605-6900 email: orders@ntis.fedworld.gov online ordering: http://www.ntis.gov/ordering.htmThis document was printed on recycled paper. SummaryThe Hanford Spent Nuclear Fuel Project focuses its efforts on determining how to safely move the degraded N-Reactor spent fuel from water-stored basins to a dry storage facility. As part of this effort, the project initiated experimental studies to address issues relating to the chemical reactivity of the degraded/corroded metallic uranium material. The studies generated a limited set of data on chemical reaction rates of the N-Reactor spent fuel in dry-air, moist-air, and moist-inert atmospheres for comparison with published data on unirradiated/irradiated metallic uranium. Based on the laboratory data, the project chose to use a conservative enhancement factor in analyzing the oxidation behavior of the spent metallic fuel. However, there is a need for the project to increase the fuel throughput for the drying-treatment process by implementing certain design optimization steps. The study discussed in this paper re-evaluated the previous laboratory data in conjunction with the cold vacuum drying (CVD) process experience and determined whether the built-in level of conservatism could accommodate the potential changes in the process without compromising public and worker safety.Evaluations based on laboratory data on samples taken from the corroded N-Reactor spent fuel showed no reactivity enhancement for the degraded metallic uranium in moist atmospheres. The established oxidation reaction-rate constant was used to accurately determine the reactive surface areas of corroded N-Reactor fuel elements. The surface areas calculated for six different N-Reactor elements that were stored in the K-West Basin and shipped to Pacific Northwest National Laboratory for drying studies ranges from as low as 0.0018 m 2 for a broken element to 8.1 m 2 for a highly corroded spent nuclear fuel (SNF) element 5744U based on the measured reaction-rate constant for the K-Basin SNF (k SNF ). On the other hand, if the literature-averaged rate constant (k Lit ) is used, the calculated areas are between 0.0002 and 1.1 m 2 .

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Oxidation rate of K-Basin spent nuclear fuel in moist air

Cited by 2 publications

References 3 publications

Strategy for thermo-gravimetric analysis of K East fuel samples

Strategy for thermo-gravimetric analysis of K East fuel samples

Reactive Behavior of K-Basin Spent Nuclear Fuel

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