Argonne National Laboratory
RERTR
Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors
Nuclear Science and Engineering Division at Argonne
 U.S. Department of Energy

IAEA/USA Interregional course on
Preparations to Ship Spent Nuclear Fuel (1997)

Spent Fuel Classification Data

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Contact:
Dr. Raymond B. Pond
Physicist
Technology Development - 362
Argonne National Laboratory
9700 South Cass Avenue
Argonne, IL 60439 USA

Phone:  (630) 252-7090
Fax:      (630) 252-5161

IAEA/USA Interregional Training Course

Technical and Administrative Preparations Required for Shipment of Research Reactor Spent Fuel to its Country of Origin

13-24 January 1997
Argonne, IL

L.3.3

Spent Fuel Classification Data

R. B. Pond
RERTR Program
Argonne National Laboratory

Spent Research Reactor Fuel Assembly Properties
  • Nuclear Mass Inventory: U, Np, Pu, Am
  • Photon Dose Rate
  • Thermal Decay Heat
Research Reactor Fuel Assembly Types
  • MTR - fuel plates
  • TRIGA - fuel rods
  • DIDO - fuel annuli
Nuclear Mass Inventory

Mass Inventory: U, Np, Pu, Am

MTR-Type Fuel Assembly

  • Initial U-235 enrichment: 20, 45, 93%
  • Initial U-235 mass: 100 to 500g
  • U-235 burnup: 5 to 80%

Mass Inventory: U, Np, Pu, Am

TRIGA-Type Fuel Assembly

  • Single Rod
    • Initial U-235 enrichment: 20 or 70%
    • Initial U-235 mass: 38 to 133g
    • U-235 burnup: 5 to 60%
  • Rod Cluster
    • Initial U-235 enrichment: 20 or 93%
    • Initial U-235 mass: 41 or 54g
    • U-235 burnup: 10 to 60%

Mass Inventory: U, Np, Pu, Am

DIDO-Type Fuel Assembly

  • Initial U-235 enrichment: 20, 60, 80, 93%
  • Initial U-235 mass: 150 or 200g
  • U-235 burnup: 10 to 60%
Nuclear Mass Inventory Example

MTR-Type Fuel Assembly

U-235 Mass, 300g
U-235 Burnup, 40%

U-235 Enrichment

Isotope 20% 45% 93%
U-235 180 180 180
U-236 20 19 19
U-238 1205 361 22
Np-237 0.4 0.4 0.4
Pu-238 0.0 0.0 0.0
Pu-239 7.5 3.4 0.4
Pu-240 1.2 0.6 0.1
Pu-241 0.4 0.2 0.0
Pu-242 0.0 0.0 0.0
Am-241 0.0 0.0 0.0
Photon Dose Rate

Photon Dose Rate Parameters

  • Specific Fuel Assembly Power Density:
    • 0.089 to 2.857 MW/kgU-235
  • U-235 Burnup: 20 to 80%
  • Fission Product Decay Time: 2 to 20 years

Photon Dose Rate Results at 1 m in Air

  • MTR -
  • TRIGA - 1.04 times MTR
  • DIDO - 1.05 times MTR



Photon Dose Rate Example
Fuel Assembly Data
Time-Average Power 25 kW
U-235 Mass 280 g
Specific Power Density 0.089 MW/kgU-235
U-235 Burned 112 g
U-235 Burnup 40%
Fission Product Decay Time 3 y
Photon Dose Rate Results
FP Dose Rate (Table 8) 1.02 rem/h per gU-235 burned
FA Dose Rate at 1 m in Air 114 rem/h
Self-Protection Time (Fig. 1) 4 y

Table 8. Photon Dose Rates At 1 M In Air,
rem/h per g 235U burned

Decay Time, y Burnup, %235U Assembly Power Density, MW/kg 235U
2.857 1.429 0.714 0.357 0.179 0.089
 

2

3

4

1%

1.84+0

1.13+0

9.01-1

1.84+0

1.13+0

9.01-1

1.83+0

1.13+0

9.01-1

1.80+0

1.13+0

9.01-1

1.77+0

1.11+0

9.01-1

1.70+0

1.11+0

8.92-1

2

3

4

 10%

1.89+0

1.19+0

9.52-1

1.87+0

1.20+0

9.61-1

1.80+0

1.20+0

9.61-1

1.64+0

1.16+0

9.44-1

1.50+0

1.09+0

9.10-1

1.28+0

9.95-1

8.59-1

2

3

4

5

10

15

20

20%

2.01+0

1.31+0

1.04+0

8.97-1

6.67-1

5.78-1

5.10-1

1.98+0

1.32+0

1.05+0

9.10-1

6.67-1

5.78-1

5.10-1

1.86+0

1.28+0

1.04+0

9.05-1

6.67-1

5.74-1

5.10-1

1.66+0

1.21+0

9.99-1

8.80-1

6.59-1

5.70-1

5.06-1

1.42+0

1.11+0

9.44-1

8.46-1

6.50-1

5.61-1

4.97-1

1.19+0

9.78-1

8.63-1

7.95-1

6.25-1

5.44-1

4.85-1

2

3

4

5

10

15

20

40%

2.40+0

1.62+0

1.27+0

1.07+0

7.03-1

5.87-1

5.14-1

2.30+0

1.60+0

1.27+0

1.07+0

7.03-1

5.84-1

5.12-1

2.09+0

1.53+0

1.22+0

1.04+0

6.95-1

5.80-1

5.08-1

1.82+0

1.39+0

1.14+0

9.90-1

6.80-1

5.70-1

5.02-1

1.52+0

1.22+0

1.03+0

9.20-1

6.55-1

5.53-1

4.87-1

1.21+0

1.02+0

8.99-1

8.12-1

6.10-1

5.23-1

4.59-1

2

3

4

5

10

15

20

60%

2.95+0

2.05+0

1.59+0

1.30+0

7.55-1

5.96-1

5.17-1

2.79+0

2.00+0

1.56+0

1.29+0

7.51-1

5.96-1

5.17-1

2.52+0

1.87+0

1.49+0

1.24+0

7.37-1

5.88-1

5.13-1

2.15+0

1.66+0

1.35+0

1.15+0

7.07-1

5.72-1

4.99-1

1.74+0

1.40+0

1.17+0

1.02+0

6.70-1

5.50-1

4.76-1

1.34+0

1.12+0

9.63-1

8.54-1

6.02-1

5.04-1

4.39-1

2

3

4

5

10

15

20

80%

3.85+0

2.73+0

2.08+0

1.66+0

8.28-1

6.18-1

5.27-1

3.62+0

2.64+0

2.03+0

1.63+0

8.21-1

6.15-1

5.20-1

3.26+0

2.43+0

1.90+0

1.54+0

8.00-1

6.05-1

5.13-1

2.76+0

2.11+0

1.69+0

1.39+0

7.59-1

5.82-1

4.97-1

2.21+0

1.74+0

1.41+0

1.19+0

6.97-1

5.44-1

4.66-1

1.64+0

1.33+0

1.12+0

9.57-1

6.04-1

4.87-1

4.20-1

Thermal Decay Heat

Thermal Decay Heat Parameters

  • Fuel Assembly Time-Average Power
  • Fuel Assembly Elapsed Irradiation Time
  • Fission Product Decay Time

Thermal Decay Heat Example

Fuel Assembly Data
Time-Average Power,

25,000 W

U-235 Mass

280 g

U-235 Burnup

40%

U-235 Burned,

112 g

Fission Product Decay Time, td

1095 d

Elapsed Irradiation Time, te

where

3584 d

Thermal Decay Heat Results
ORIGEN

4.2 W

Eq. -1: Integrated Emission Rates


10.6 W

Eq. -2: El-Wakil


5.1 W

Eq. -3: Untermyer and Weills



3.8 W

Figure 2. Comparison of Decay Heat Equations-2 and -3 with ORIGEN

PHDOSE Program Package

  • Example Input
  • Example Output
  • Input/Output Description
  • PHDOSE Program (Fortran)

PHDOSE Program

  • Dose Rate: Line-Source Model of Spent Fuel
    • MTR ~ 0.92 times L-S Dose Rate
    • TRIGA ~ 1.04 times MTR Dose Rate
    • DIDO ~ 1.05 times MTR Dose Rate
  • Fission Product Radioactivity (Curies)
  • Photon Source (Ph/s)
  • Gamma Decay Heat (Watts)

PHDOSE Fission Products

Sr-90, Y-90, Cs-133, Cs-134

Cs-137, Ba-137m, Ce-144, Pr-144 

Ru-106, Rh-106, Zr-95, Nb-95
SUMMARY
  • Nuclear Mass Inventory
    • Obtain by Table Look-up
  • Photon Dose Rate
    • Obtain by Table Look-up
    • or PHDOSE Program
  • Thermal Decay Heat
    • Obtain by Analytical Expression
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ARGONNE NATIONAL LABORATORY, Nuclear Engineering Division, RERTR Department
9700 South Cass Ave., Argonne, IL 60439-4814
A U.S. Department of Energy laboratory managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC
 

Last modified on July 29, 2008 11:33 +0200