AEROSOL GENERATION FROM SPENT FUEL IN HIGH ENERGY IMPACT ENVIRONMENTS: SEARCHING FOR BETTER DEFINITION OF THE ELUSIVE

This paper reviews the work performed to date to obtain a better definition of the spent fuel to surrogate aerosol ratio, which is of prime interest in evaluating the effects of high energy environment on the behavior of spent nuclear fuel in accidents and potential terrorists’ attacks. It is necessary to have information on the particulate produced within the cask as a result of highenergy impact environments. In the event of a leak path to the environment, the particulate released to the cask cavity is required in order to estimate the characteristics of the source term that might result in nearby persons receiving a radiation dose. This paper examines data by Ruhmann and other authors relating to the particulation of irradiated fuel and un-irradiated UO2 for identical experimental conditions and its application to estimating a value for SFR.