Abstracts and Available Papers Presented at the
2002 International RERTR Meeting

THE LFR FACILITY (CNEA) FOR BURNUP DETERMINATION IN URANIUM SILICIDE FUELS 20% 235U

C. Devida, E. Gautier, D. Gil, A. Stankevicius

Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica, Argentina

ABSTRACT

The LFR Facility is a radiochemical laboratory designed and constructed with a hot-cells line, a glove-box and a fume-hood, all of them suited to work with radioactive materials.

At the beginning of the LFR operation a series of dissolutions of MTR irradiated silicide fuel elements was performed, and determined its isotopic composition of ²³⁵U, ²³⁹Pu and ¹⁴⁸Nd (this last as burnup monitor), by the thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS). These assays are linked to the IAEA RLA/4/018 Regional Project “Management of Spent Fuel from Research Reactors”. It is concluded that this technique of burnup measurement is powerful and accurate when properly applied, and permit to validate the calculation codes when isotopic dilution is performed.

It is worth noticed the LFR capacity to carry on different research and development programs (R+D) in the Nuclear Fuel Cycle field, such as the previously mentioned absolute burnup measurements, or the evaluation of radioactive waste immobilization processes and researches on burnable poisons.

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