Determination of alpha dose rate profile at the HLW nuclear glass/water interface h i g h l i g h t s

Sarah Mougnaud (1) , M Tribet (1) , S Rolland (1) , J.-P Renault (2) , C. Jégou (1)

1 CEA - Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique, Centre de Marcoule
2 NIMBE UMR 3685 - Nanosciences et Innovation pour les Matériaux, la Biomédecine et l'Energie (ex SIS2M)

The nuclear glass/water interface is studied. The way the energy of alpha particles is deposited is modeled using MCNPX code. A model giving dose rate profiles at the interface using intrinsic data is proposed. Bulk dose rate is a majoring estimation in alteration layer and in surrounding water. Dose rate is high in small cracks; in larger ones irradiated volume is negligible. a b s t r a c t Alpha irradiation and radiolysis can affect the alteration behavior of High Level Waste (HLW) nuclear glasses. In this study, the way the energy of alpha particles, emitted by a typical HLW glass, is deposited in water at the glass/water interface is investigated, with the aim of better characterizing the dose deposition at the glass/water interface during water-induced leaching mechanisms. A simplified chemical composition was considered for the nuclear glass under study, wherein the dose rate is about 140 Gy/h. The MCNPX calculation code was used to calculate alpha dose rate and alpha particle flux profiles at the glass/water interface in different systems: a single glass grain in water, a glass powder in water and a water-filled ideal crack in a glass package. Dose rate decreases within glass and in water as distance to the center of the grain increases. A general model has been proposed to fit a dose rate profile in water and in glass from values for dose rate in glass bulk, alpha range in water and linear energy transfer considerations. The glass powder simulation showed that there was systematic overlapping of radiation fields for neighboring glass grains, but the water dose rate always remained lower than the bulk value. Finally, for typical ideal cracks in a glass matrix, an overlapping of irradiation fields was observed while the crack aperture was lower than twice the alpha range in water. This led to significant values for the alpha dose rate within the crack volume, as long as the aperture remained lower than 60 lm.

Domaines: Matériaux

Sarah Mougnaud, M Tribet, S Rolland, J.-P Renault, C. Jégou. Determination of alpha dose rate profile at the HLW nuclear glass/water interface h i g h l i g h t s. Journal of Nuclear Materials, 2015, 462, pp.258-267. ⟨10.1016/j.jnucmat.2015.04.012⟩. ⟨cea-01252145⟩