Americium and plutonium release behavior from irradiated mixed oxide fuel during heating

The release behavior of Pu and Am was investigated under the reducing atmosphere expected in sodium cooled fast reactor severe accidents. Irradiated Pu and U mixed oxide fuels were heated at maximum temperatures of 2773 K and 3273 K. EPMA, γ-ray spectrometry and α-ray spectrometry for released and residual materials revealed that Pu and Am can be released more easily than U under the reducing atmosphere. The respective release rate coefficients for Pu and Am were obtained as 3.11 × 10−4 min−1 and 1.60 × 10−4 min−1 at 2773 K under the reducing atmosphere with oxygen partial pressure less than 0.02 Pa. Results of thermochemical calculations indicated that the main released chemical forms would likely be PuO for Pu and Am for Am under quite low oxygen partial pressure.