Interaction study between MOX fuel and eutectic lead-bismuth coolant

In the frame of the MYRRHA reactor project, the interaction between fuel pellets and the reactor coolant is essential for safety evaluations, e.g. in case of a pin breach. Therefore, interaction tests between uranium-plutonium mixed oxide (MOX) pellets and molten lead bismuth eutectic (LBE) have been performed and three parameters were studied, namely the interaction temperature (500 degrees C and 800 degrees C), the oxygen content in LBE and the stoichiometry of the MOX (U0.7Pu0.3O2-x and U0.7Pu0.3O2.00). After 50 h of interaction in closed containers, the pellet integrity was preserved in all cases. Whatever the conditions, neither interaction compounds (crystalline or amorphous) nor lead and bismuth diffusion into the surface regions of the MOX pellets has been detected. In most of the conditions, actinide releases into LBE were very limited (in the range of 0.01-0.15 mg), with a homogeneous release of the different actinides present in the MOX. Detected values were significantly higher in the 800 degrees C and low LBE oxygen content tests for both U0.7Pu0.3O2-x and U0.7Pu0.3O2.00, with 1-2 mg of actinide released in these conditions. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license.