Open AccessFISSION PRODUCT TRAPS FOR USE IN HIGH-TEMPERATURE GAS-COOLED GRAPHITE REACTORS
Author(s) -
L.R. Zumwalt
Publication year - 1958
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Reports
DOI - 10.2172/4014972
Subject(s) - fission products , nuclear fission product , fission , reagent , trapping , graphite , metal , volatility (finance) , nuclear fission , long lived fission product , chemistry , radiochemistry , vaporization , materials science , fission product yield , nuclear physics , organic chemistry , neutron , physics , ecology , financial economics , economics , biology
A proposal is given of an approach to a fission-product trapping system which appears feasible on the basis of thermodynamic and other data available. Reactor and trapping conditions are outlined. The half-lives, fission yields, and volatility of the fission products of interest are described. To provide the most effective retention at elevated temperatures, two types of reagents are required: a highly electropositive metal that will not melt or appreciably vaporize and which will form stable non-volatile compounds with non-metallic or near non-metallic fission products; and a reagent to provide a highly electronegative element to form stable, non-volatile compounds with metallic fission products. Thermodynamic properties are included for compounds formed by reactions between the fission products and the trapping reagents. (B.O.G.