Fission product release and microstructure changes of irradiated MOX fuel at high temperatures

Samples of irradiated MOX fuel of 44.5 GWd/tHM mean burn-up were prepared by core drilling at three different radial positions of a fuel pellet. They were subsequently heated in a Knudsen effusion mass spectrometer up to complete vaporisation of the sample (∼2600 K) and the release of fission gas (krypton and xenon) as well as helium was measured. Scanning electron microscopy was used in parallel to investigate the evolution of the microstructure of a sample heated under the same condition up to given key temperatures as determined from the gas release profiles. A clear initial difference for fission gas release and microstructure was observed as a function of the radial position of the samples and therefore of irradiation temperature. A good correlation between the microstructure evolution and the gas release peaks could be established as a function of the temperature of irradiation and (laboratory) heating.