Simulation of radiation induced dissolution of spent nuclear fuel using the steady-state approach. A comparison to experimental data

Using the recently developed steady-state model for simulation of radiation induced dissolution of spent nuclear fuel in water we have estimated the rate of dissolution for relatively fresh fuel to 1.64 × 10−9 mol m−2 s−1. A series of experiments have been performed on fuel fragments in deoxygenated water containing 10 mM HCO3−. The dissolution rates obtained from these experiments range from 2.6 × 10−10 to 1.6 × 10−9 mol m−2 s−1. The leaching time in the experiments is 40 days or less and during this time the amount of released uranium increases linearly with time which indicates that the system has reached steady-state. The excellent agreement between the estimated dissolution rate and the dissolution rates obtained from the spent nuclear fuel leaching experiments indicates that the steady-state approach can indeed be used to predict the rate of spent nuclear fuel dissolution.