Within the EURATOM FP7 Collaborative Project “Fast / Instant Release of Safety Relevant Radionuclides from Spent Nuclear Fuel (CP FIRST-Nuclides)”, a State-of-the-Art Report was prepared. The fast / instant release fraction (IRF) is defined as a fraction of the inventory of radionuclides that may be rapidly released from the fuel and fuel assembly materials at the time of canister breaching. In the context of safety analysis for a repository, the time span for mobilization of this fraction can be considered instantaneously, even if the process takes some time in experiments. Radionuclides contributing to the fast release are fission gases (Kr and Xe), easily soluble elements such as cesium and iodine, and other elements which are hardly incorporated in the UO2 crystal lattice.
The present contribution summarizes the results obtained from published studies focused on rapid release experiments carried out with different spent nuclear fuel (SNF), samples, sizes, techniques (batch and flow-through), and durations. A total of 80 experiments cover the study of UO2 SNF from pressure water reactors (PWR) of different initial enrichments and burn-up, while 20 experiments were performed with UO2 SNF from boiling water reactors (BWR) and 8 with MOX fuel.
