Status of the spent fuel in the reactor buildings of Fukushima Daiichi 1–4

• Published in: Nuclear engineering and design Vol. 283; pp. 2 - 7
• Main Author: Jackel, Bernd S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01-03-2015
• Subjects: Chains; Mathematical analysis; Nuclear engineering; Nuclear power generation; Nuclear reactor components; Nuclear reactors; Pools; Spent fuels; Spent nuclear fuels
• ISSN: 0029-5493; 1872-759X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.nucengdes.2014.07.007

The ratios of the radionuclides Cs-134g and Cs-137 deduced from measurements of liquid samples from the spent fuel pools in Fukushima Daiichi 1–4 are used to interpret the status of the spent fuel assemblies in the pools of the damaged reactor buildings. The different natures of the production of Cs-134g (neutron capture product of Cs-133) and Cs-137 (cumulative fission product from mass chain 137) and the different half-lives (2.06 years and 30.17 years respectively) require a complicated calculation of the mass and activity of the two nuclides. These masses are depending on the local burn up of the fuel, the burn up history and the radioactive decay. Calculation of the neutron capture product Cs-134g is particularly complicated, because the production of Cs-133 (stable cumulative fission product from mass chain 133) has to be taken into account. The neutron capture cross section for Cs-133 for thermal neutrons is well known, but the energy spectrum of the neutrons in a reactor includes higher energies according to the degree of moderation. Therefore the cross section was fitted from a gamma scan of spent fuel rods in a hot cell. The method of the calculation of the nuclide activities and the interpretation of the gamma measurements of the spent fuel pool samples from Fukushima Daiichi 1–4 are described in detail. It could be shown that at most only very minor mechanical damage of some spent fuel elements occurred during the accident and the later phase of the clearing work.