Open AccessHigh wettability of liquid caesium iodine with solid uranium dioxide
Author(s) -
Ken Kurosaki,
Masanori Suzuki,
Masayoshi Uno,
Hideshi Ishii,
Masaya Kumagai,
Keito Anada,
Yoshiyuki Murakami,
Yuji Ohishi,
Hiroaki Muta,
Toshihiro Tanaka,
Shinşuke Yamanaka
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
scientific reports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.24
H-Index - 213
ISSN - 2045-2322
DOI - 10.1038/s41598-017-11774-0
Subject(s) - nuclear fission product , caesium , fission products , wetting , nuclear fuel , solid fuel , radiochemistry , contamination , uranium , nuclear fission , nuclear power plant , waste management , materials science , fission , chemistry , nuclear chemistry , neutron , metallurgy , inorganic chemistry , composite material , combustion , nuclear physics , ecology , physics , organic chemistry , biology , engineering
In March 2011, the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident caused nuclear fuel to melt and the release of high-volatility fission products into the environment. Caesium and iodine caused environmental contamination and public exposure. Certain fission-product behaviours remain unclear. We found experimentally that liquid CsI disperses extremely favourably toward solid UO 2 , exhibiting a contact angle approaching zero. We further observed the presence of CsI several tens of micrometres below the surface of the solid UO 2 sample, which would be caused by the infiltration of pores network by liquid CsI. Thus, volatile fission products released from molten nuclear fuels with complex internal composition and external structure migrate or evaporate to varying extents, depending on the nature of the solid–liquid interface and the fuel material surface, which becomes the pathway for the released fission products. Introducing the concept of the wettability of liquid chemical species of fission products in contact with solid fuels enabled developing accurate behavioural assessments of volatile fission products released by nuclear fuel.