Long-Term Aging of Chernobyl Fuel Debris: Corium and “Lava”

Bella Zubekhina, Boris Burakov, Ekaterina Silanteva, Yuri Petrov, Vasiliy Yapaskurt and Dmitry Danilovich
Additional contact information
Bella Zubekhina: V.G. Khlopin Radium Institute, 28, 2-nd Murinskiy Ave., 194021 St. Petersburg, Russia
Boris Burakov: V.G. Khlopin Radium Institute, 28, 2-nd Murinskiy Ave., 194021 St. Petersburg, Russia
Ekaterina Silanteva: V.G. Khlopin Radium Institute, 28, 2-nd Murinskiy Ave., 194021 St. Petersburg, Russia
Yuri Petrov: V.G. Khlopin Radium Institute, 28, 2-nd Murinskiy Ave., 194021 St. Petersburg, Russia
Vasiliy Yapaskurt: Geological Department, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 1, Leninskie Gory, 119991 Moscow, Russia
Dmitry Danilovich: Faculty of Chemistry of Substances and Materials, Saint-Petersburg State Institute of Technology (Technical University), 26, Moskovskii Ave., 190013 St. Petersburg, Russia

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 3, 1-9

Abstract: Samples of Chernobyl fuel debris, including massive corium and “lava” were collected inside the Chernobyl “Sarcophagus” or “Shelter” in 1990, transported to Leningrad (St. Petersburg) and stored under laboratory conditions for many years. In 2011 aged samples were visually re-examined and it was confirmed that most of them remained intact, although some evidence of self-destruction and chemical alteration were clearly observed. Selected samples of corium and “lava” were affected by static leaching at temperatures of 25, 90 and 150 °C in distilled water. A normalized Pu mass loss (NL Pu ) from corium samples after 140 days was noted to be 0.5 g/m 2 at 25 °C and 1.1 g/m 2 at 90 °C. For “lava” samples NL Pu was 2.2–2.3 g/m 2 at 90 °C for 140 days. The formation of secondary uranyl phases on the surface of corium and “lava” samples altered at 150 °C was confirmed. The results obtained are considered as an important basis for the simulation of fuel debris aging at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (NPP).

Keywords: leaching; chemical alteration; Chernobyl “lava”, corium; fuel debris; Fukushima Daiichi NPP; plutonium (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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