Distributions of density and fission products in the reaction product between irradiated MOX fuel and molten zircaloy-2

ABSTRACTTwo- and three-dimensional images were obtained by X-ray CT in the reaction product between zircaloy-2 cladding tube and MOX fuel. The gamma-ray intensity distributions in the same specimen were also obtained by gamma-ray measurements of two fission products (Cs-137 and Eu-154) and one neutron-activated nuclide (Co-60). The average values of the fuel density (about 10.5 g/cm3) and the cladding density (about 6.55 g/cm3) were obtained in the metallic phase region by evaluation of the density distributions on two-dimensional X-ray CT images. The distributions of the crushed fuel pellet and the pores were also clearly observed in the three-dimensional X-ray CT images. The following results were found from the gamma-ray measurement. First, Cs-137 was observed in the unreacted fuel region and the pore region in the metallic phase region. Second, Eu-154 was widely distributed to all regions. Finally, Co-60 was confirmed only in the metallic phase region.