Potential tellurium deposits in the BWR containment during a severe nuclear accident

Journal article, 2020

The release of fission products to the environment is one of the concerns with nuclear power. During an accident, the most likely released are the volatile fission products i.e., tellurium. To evaluate the behavior of tellurium in the event of an accident, it was heated under different conditions (oxidizing, inert, reducing; both dry and humidified). The formed vapor was transported to surfaces (aluminum, copper, zinc) at room temperature that can be found in the BWR-containment. All formed deposits were examined for morphology and species. Moreover, the content of sodium hydroxide liquid traps following the metal surfaces and filter was also investigated. In these traps, the highest amount of tellurium was found under humid-reducing followed by humid-oxidizing conditions. In the deposit removed from the zinc surface acquired under the latter conditions, elemental analysis observed zinc, indicating a possible reaction between tellurium and zinc. The corresponding trap showed significant amounts of zinc. (C) 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.