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Noble gas constraints on spent fuel irradiation histories

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Abstract

Fission gas isotopic compositions are sensitive to a variety of reactor operating parameters that include the neutron flux, neutron fluence at different neutron energies, and operating temperature. Measurements of fission gas isotopic compositions thus have potential to constrain reactor simulations for nuclear forensics and safeguards applications. In this paper, we present Kr and Xe isotope measurements from a suite of samples obtained from locations that span the axial length a fuel pin with a well-characterized irradiation history and compare these data to spatially resolved reactor simulations. We observed positive correlations between fluence sensitive isotopic ratios and burnup and between a flux sensitive ratio and power, although some discrepancies are observed between the measured data and model predictions. These differences may be due to simplifications in the model and/or inaccuracies in the cross sections. A much broader measurement to model comparison is required to better understand the discrepancies.

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Acknowledgements

This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344. This work was supported by the National Nuclear Security Agency Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Research and Development. Multi-collector and quadrupole ICP-MS measurements and chromatographic separations were performed by Dr. Jeffrey Giglio, Dr. Teresa Giglio, Mr. James Sommers, and Mr. Joey Charboneau, with data analysis performed by Mr. Dan Cummings. Hot cell dissolutions were performed by Mr. Mike Rodriguez.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nuclear and Chemical Sciences Division, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, L-231, P.O. Box 808, Livermore, CA, 4550, USA

    William S. Cassata & Brett H. Isselhardt

  2. Nuclear Nonproliferation Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, P.O. Box 2008, Oak Ridge, TN, 37831, USA

    Andrew J. Conant

  3. Analytical Laboratory Division, Idaho National Laboratory, P.O. Box 1625, Idaho Falls, ID, 83415, USA

    Joey Charboneau

  4. Nuclear Nonproliferation Division, Idaho National Laboratory, P.O. Box 1625, Idaho Falls, ID, 83415, USA

    Kevin P. Carney

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  1. William S. Cassata
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Correspondence to Brett H. Isselhardt.

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Cassata, W.S., Isselhardt, B.H., Conant, A.J. et al. Noble gas constraints on spent fuel irradiation histories. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 332, 3151–3159 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-023-08946-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-023-08946-w

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