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Spent Fuel: Characterization Studies and Dissolution Behaviourunder Disposal Conditions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2011

L. H. Johnson,
D. W. Shoesmith and
S. Stroes-Gascoyne
L. H. Johnson
Affiliation:
Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, Whiteshell Nuclear Research Establishment, Pinawa, Manitoba, Canada ROE 1L0
D. W. Shoesmith
Affiliation:
Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, Whiteshell Nuclear Research Establishment, Pinawa, Manitoba, Canada ROE 1L0
S. Stroes-Gascoyne
Affiliation:
Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, Whiteshell Nuclear Research Establishment, Pinawa, Manitoba, Canada ROE 1L0
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Abstract

The concept of disposal of unreprocessed spent fuel has now been under study internationally for over ten years. Considerable progress has been made in understanding the factors that will control radionuclide release from spent fuel in an underground disposal vault. This progress is reviewed and the research areas of significance in providing further data for source term models are discussed. Key areas for future research are identified; these include improved characterization of spent fuel to determine the inventories of fission products at grain boundaries, together with their release kinetics; and a better understanding of the effects of solution chemistry on spent fuel dissolution, in particular the effects of salinity, redox chemistry, and radiolysis of groundwater. Approaches to modelling the dissolution of spent fuel are discussed, and a possible approach for developing an oxidative dissolution model is outlined.

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