The kinetics of new reprocessing routes for nuclear fuel

英国用过的核燃料将被送往GDF(地质处置设施)，尽管该设施要到2075年左右才会开放。在GDF开放之前，英国用过的燃料将被临时湿储存在塞拉菲尔德的池塘里。燃料包壳(包裹二氧化铀燃料芯块的钢套)在拆卸过程中可能会因腐蚀或损坏而破裂。钢覆层和二氧化铀表面在随后暴露在池塘水中时的演变都可以被认为是腐蚀过程，因此可以方便地用电化学方法进行研究。使用新型燃料模拟剂(SIMFUELs)，我们对SIMFUEL-钢在池塘缓冲液中的耦合样品进行了初步的电化学研究，发现它们可能以一种可能促进二氧化铀腐蚀的方式相互作用。这个项目由兰开斯特、曼彻斯特的道尔顿坎布里安设施(DCF)和英国国家核实验室(NNL)合作，旨在开发新的方法来早期检测有利于池塘储存期间英国乏燃料钢壳腐蚀的条件。

The UK's used nuclear fuel will be sent to a GDF (geological disposal facility) although this is not due to open until around 2075. Until the GDF opens, UK used fuel will be held in interim wet storage in ponds at Sellafield. Fuel cladding (a steel sheath encasing the uranium dioxide fuel pellets) can be breached due to corrosion or damaged during dismantling. Evolution of both the steel cladding & the uranium dioxide surfaces upon consequent exposure to pond water can be considered as corrosion processes and so conveniently studied by electrochemical methods. Using novel fuel simulants (SIMFUELs), we have conducted preliminary electrochemical studies on coupled SIMFUEL-steel samples in pond buffer and found that they may interact in a manner that might promote uranium dioxide corrosion. This suggests that both cladding and pellets of UK used fuel are corroding during wet storage.This project, a collaboration between Lancaster, Manchester's Dalton Cumbrian Facility (DCF) and the UK's National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL), aims to develop novel approaches for the early stage detection of conditions conducive to the corrosion of the steel cladding of UK spent fuel during pond storage.