Title :

Chemical interaction between uranium dioxide, boron carbide and stainless steel at 1900 °C — Application to a severe accident scenario in sodium cooled fast reactors

Author(s) :

Garrigue, Mathieu [Auteur]
Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives [CEA]
419361|||Université Paris-Saclay
Quaini, Andrea [Auteur]
Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives [CEA]
419361|||Université Paris-Saclay
Alpettaz, Thierry [Auteur]
Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives [CEA]
419361|||Université Paris-Saclay
Bonnet, Christophe [Auteur]
Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives [CEA]
419361|||Université Paris-Saclay
Brackx, Emmanuelle [Auteur]
Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives [CEA]
Université de Montpellier [UM]
Touzin, Matthieu [Auteur]
Unité Matériaux et Transformations (UMET) - UMR 8207
Tougait, Olivier [Auteur]
Unité de Catalyse et de Chimie du Solide (UCCS) - UMR 8181
Unité Matériaux et Transformations - UMR 8207 [UMET]
Unité de Catalyse et Chimie du Solide (UCCS) - UMR 8181
Guéneau, Christine [Auteur]
Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives [CEA]
Université Paris-Saclay

Journal title :

Journal of Nuclear Materials

Volume number :

557

Pages :

153266

Publisher :

Elsevier BV

Publication date :

2021-12-15

ISSN :

0022-3115

English keyword(s) :

Severe accident
Sodium fast reactor
B4C
Carbo-reduction
UO2
Stainless steel

HAL domain(s) :

Physique [physics]/Matière Condensée [cond-mat]/Science des matériaux [cond-mat.mtrl-sci]
Chimie/Matériaux

English abstract : [en]

For the understanding of severe accidents in sodium cooled fast reactors (SFR), it is necessary to understand two prototypic accident scenarios such as ULOF (Unprotected Loss of Flow Accident) and UTOP (Unprotected Transient ...
Show more >For the understanding of severe accidents in sodium cooled fast reactors (SFR), it is necessary to understand two prototypic accident scenarios such as ULOF (Unprotected Loss of Flow Accident) and UTOP (Unprotected Transient OverPower). As the base knowledge, it is also important to understand high temperature chemical interaction among major core materials such as MOx fuel (MOx: mixed oxide of uranium and plutonium), steel cladding and B4C neutron absorber have to be investigated. This study aims at providing experimental data on phase formation and phase-stability at various temperature and pressure conditions. A first series of samples containing a mixture of B4C and steel were prepared to obtain a homogenous metallic solid. In a second step, these metallic samples were mixed and melted with small UO2 pieces by arc melting. Then these samples underwent a heat treatment at 1900 °C for 1 hour. EDS, EBSD and EPMA analyses were performed to identify the phases formed during the solidification. In addition, thermodynamic calculations were performed for the interpretation of the results, revealing that a carbo-reduction reaction occurs: UO2 + 2 C = 2 CO + U. A significant amount of uranium from the fuel is dissolved in the metallic liquid phase, leading to the formation of mixed borides (UM3B2, UMB4, UM4B, M=Fe,Cr,Ni). In comparison with the UO2/steel interaction, the present results show that the presence of B and C in the melt improves the wetting behaviour of the metallic liquid towards UO2.Show less >

Language :

Anglais

Peer reviewed article :

Oui

Audience :

Internationale

Popular science :

Non

Administrative institution(s) :

Université de Lille
CNRS
INRA
ENSCL

Collections :

• Unité Matériaux et Transformations (UMET) - UMR 8207

Research team(s) :

Métallurgie Physique et Génie des Matériaux

Submission date :

2021-09-06T07:23:18Z
2021-09-07T09:14:22Z