As the first step of a series of experiments designed for the hazards evaluation of the uranium fuel for the Calder-Hall type reactor of Japan Atomic Power Co., behavior of oxidation by air at 550°C has been investigated. The specimen used is a dummy fuel element, Magnox clad uranium rod, with a pinhole on the cladding. The pinhole diameter ranges 0.31.2 mm, and the thickness of the cladding is 1.6 mm.
Because a small gap between the rod and the cladding was developed by heating, the oxidation of uranium proceeded over a considerable area in spite of a small diameter of the pinhole. Remarkable swelling around the pinhole was observed at about 300 mg of weight gain by oxidation and burst of the cladding occurred when the weight gain reached to about 1, 000 mg.
The subjects of this series of experiments are (1) oxidation behavior, (2) oxidation rates of the intentionally punctured dummy fuel element, (3) diffusion coefficient of fission gas in the oxide powder, (4) correlation of oxidation with fission gas release, and (5) oxidation by decomposed carbon dioxide.
The results obtaained in these experiments are scheduled to be reported successively.
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