Methods and results of determining the impurity gas amount in ceramic fuel

Abstract

An issue of estimating the impurity gas amount in fresh ceramic nuclear fuel is discussed from the point of view of their possible influence on parameters of in-pile experiments simulating a severe accident with core melting. A method based on measuring the pressure and temperature of gas in a closed cavity where fuel is fast melted is proposed and experimentally tested under in-pile experiment conditions. The fuel was melted due to internal energy release in the central experimental channel of the research impulse graphite reactor (IGR) during implementation of a controlled neutron impulse.