&L .'/"'J ORNL 4865 Fission Product Behavior in the Mclten Salt Reactor Experiment E. L. Ccmpcre S. S. KirsMs BLANK PAGE <J i Printed in the United States of America. Available from National technical Information Service U.S. Dioart.-nem of Commerce 5285 Port Royal Roaa. brxir.^fieid. Virginia 22161 Price: Printed Copy S7.60: Microfiche S2.25 This report was prepared n an aocou.it of work sponsored by rh* United States Government. Ne-ri'*. -he United States nor the Energy Research and Dcvdopmtn- Admmistration. nor any of ffi*-r employees, nor any o* their contractors, subcontractors, or their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, -x assumes any legal liability or responsibi'ity for the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe pr-vatdy owned rights. OR NL 4866 UC 76 - Molon S*lt Reactor Ttchnology Co-"*.- \c .'.7-10= -r-9 26 MOIItVS\l.l kl U1<)KPR«K,R\M FISSION PRODUCT BEHAVIOR IN THE MOLTEN SALT REACTOR EXPERIMENT E L Comoe'e EG 3ori!m;in S S <-r$hs F F. Biar,ken$i-,D •V R Grimes OCTOBER 1975 OAK RIDGE NATIONAL LABORATORY Oak Rid^e Tennessee ")7830 ooerated oy UNION CARBiDE CORPORATION for the rNERGY RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION \ Thi* report » ore ot pcnu&t ttyoru m »hh.h mt 4ei*.nbe the x-pr* ••* rtw p»« Orhet Mpum med arias win me fated M» OUXLM^ FtoMdEadragJjrm* 3!. !*•** «tXL2t>> Period EadEMjOk.-f>r>~-! M. :' ". 0H\L>»4 rcwdEWM« JJMV. 31 ;•>•' OKSL-2"'2? Period Eada* Apr* 4* l«5» OKSL-2-r*> Pcr»dEadK«My3 . ;«*5«> OHM.:**) Period rifcitOttofr 31. !•*•» «LM->-7 ftnud* EnfrfJa—»r 31 Md \prc 30 i**bO OHMJOM Period EadHHj My 31 l-*0 OKM.-3I*: rVnud Eadmg Fcfcrajry >.. !•*.» OHM 3:15 Penud Ewtog Aftf 3; l»*»l OKSLS2*2 rVrwd E»4MC F«4»nur> > !>K»: OdM.iW Period Imimt A*f»* 3:. 1%: ORM.-34I9 Period Eadn* hrnun 31. '«*to3 OBIL-iS> Ftnotf Eatfn* My 31. i'** < ORSL-3fr2ft Herod E« fcwi JJ—*y 31. <464 ORM.-370H PenjdEsda«My3l.l<*K* O«M.»I: Period Eadnf Fcfcnury ». I«*.5 omL-arc Period EwJif Aagaa 31. l'i-5 ORML-Jafe Perod Ciidf Febnnry >. !"*<> OHNL-W37 Period EadMg Aapni 31.I*** OR.M.-I119 Period EitdM« Fnmo >- 1"*»7 OKNL-II9I Penodtjidiaf .*«•»( 31.I%.7 ORNL-IJ54 Period EndiM I frmwy 2**. 1*** ORNL-1344 rVnod Endng V-wn 31.I«J6* ORM.-43*, hriod EadnHj F-* nury 2*. I«V» OHM-U4P r-rwf Eadnt Aupw 31.I«H*» ORM.-454* Period Endwg Fcrnnry 9. !«>7M fi*HL4t>22 P*r;-jd Ending A»T-.a 31.1970 ORNL-4676 Period Ending F**"»o >. I'»7| ORXL-472H Period Ending Ao* t 31.I<*7| 0*SL-t7A2 Pfrtud Ending Fehn- >ry 2*. Iff 2 JK C0K1IXT5 ABSTRACT I HOWARD ; i. INTRODUCTION 2 2. ,,U MOLTtXSALTREACTORLXTtRIMLNT 3 3. vsKtamosauxiY 10 3.1 Opa.ai»m«iik:'*l Led 10 3.2 Opn*MiwMfc2JJtHid 12 •». SOMfrCHEMISTRY HTUMMLNTALS 14 5. INVENTORY 16 6 SALT SAMPUS I* hi ijdkVmpIn I«* 6.2 hM/^Vdac i*^> 22 6.3 DtwMrftjiC^Mit 24 6.4 FiMi»n ri»«iiKi Lkincni fanupmg 27 6.5 V-hfc MCIJI Mu»» 27 6.6 Nmbiuin .. 28 6.7 IINIRIC 2» 6.J» Tdtauum 2*1 7 SCRt Alt DEPOSITION OF FISSION PF.O0< CTSBV PUMPROWi. I XPOSl Ri 37 7.1 CjHe 37 7.2 Caps k Surfjto* 37 7.3 Exposure F*penm?nS» 37 7.4 M»l 41 J». GAS SAMPLES 48 X.I Frcr/c VJvcC jpwW 48 .1.2 VjlNfci) .K <«i» Samples 48 » 3 DuufclrWall ¥m/< \*brt Capsule 4*> x.4 Iiteci mKiii 50 <». SURVEILLANCE SPECIMENS 60 «». I As»mhtK» I 4 6U •U.I Preface 60 •». 1.2 Relative dVptMii intensity M * 2 Fmal Assembly 70 *».2I Desapt 70 9.2.2 Specwaensaod flow 70 9.2.3 Fask» recoil 73 9.2.4 SalMeeljngn.xbaes 73 ••.15 N«cWe» with •oUr-fs precursors 73 9.2.6 V<Mrioetalv uiobMimaiidin<t>bdenuM 74 9.2? RuffceMMI 74 9.2.8 Tetmnum 74 9.2.9 Iodine 74 9.2.10 Sticking factor* 74 9.3 Profile Una 75 9.31 Procedure 75 9.3.2 Results 78 9.3.3 Difraswa mechanism relationships 78 9.3.4 CouciwsMts Iron; profile data M 9.4 Other Fmdmgs on Surveriiance Speconens 85 10. EXAMINATION OF OFF<iAS SYSTEM COMPONENTS OR SPtCIMLNS REMOVED PRIOR TO FINAL SHUTDOWN 9| 10.! Exanunation of Particle Trap Removed alter Run 7 9| 10.2 Examination of Oti-Cas Jumper line Removed alter Run 14 92 10.2.1 Chemical analysis 93 10.2.2 Radiochemical analysis >»3 10.3 Examination of Material Recovered from Off-Gas bne after Run 16 9* 10.4 OlY-Ga line Examinations after Run 18 100 10.5 Examination of VaKe Assembly from Line 523 alter Run 18 104 10.6 The Estimation of Flowing Aerosol Concentrations from Deposits on Conduit wall 106 10.6.1 Deposition by diffusion 106 10.6.2 Deposition by thermophore*!* 107 IC.6.3 Relationship between obseived deposition and reactor loss fractions 107 10.7 Discussion of Off-Gas Line Transport IC 10.7.1 Salt constituents and salt-wefcing nudnik 109 10.7 2 Daughters of noble Rases 109 10.7.3 Nook metals 110 11. POST-OPERATION EXAMINATION OF MSRE COMK>NENTS U2 I I.I Examination of Deposits from the Mist Shrid in the MSRE Fuel Pump Bowl 112 11.2 Examination of Moderator Graphite from MSRh 120 11.2.1 Results of visual examination 120 11.2.2 Segmenting of graphite string?. '20 11.2.3 Examination of surface sample. H> x-ray diffrac'.ion 121 11.2.4 Milling of surface graphite samr*"* 121 11.2.5 Radiochemical and chemical arises of MSRE graphite 121 11.3 txamma'.ion of Heat Exchangers and C< >riir"l Rod ThimWe Surface: 125 11.4 Metal Transfer in MSRE Sail Circuits 126 11.5 Cesium Isotope Migration in MSRE Grapnu; 127 11.6 Votfe-Mtul FHMI Tfwsfoit Model 12* 11.6.! iHKamn Mtdmoiei 128 11.6 2 On-cuhbedepusiu 130 11.6 3 SonreribKe ipKMs 130 11.6.4 PMNM> bu«rl unpin 131 12. SUMMARY ANDOVfc'.VItW 135 12.1 Subk Sak&ikiUe l-hwndn 135 12.1.1 Srtanpfcs 131 12.1.2 DepuHmm 135 12.1.3 Cjssampks 136 122 \MtHnJs 17* 12.2.1 Srfi-burat 136 12.2.2 Ntobmim 136 12 2.3 i.zvburac 136 12.3 Deposition in Crjpfcite md HKtdk* N 137 12.4 |.Mfc* 138 125 bvahiatiun 138 VI USTOFFHXKES F*areli Desiga llo* sheet »H the MSRL . 5 F^ire 2-2 Pressures, tofcunes. and traiuii omo n MSRt: tuei •.ucuLituK Uwp 4 Figure- 15 MSRF reactorvend . 5 F^trc 14 Fk» patteibs m the MSRF fuel pump ... r> Figure 5.1 Outmoioaca! outhnes of MSRfc opei.:tH«i> . II Figure. 6.1 Sampier-eiincfcer schematic I*» Figure 6.3 Apparatus toe removmg MSRL salt ir.wn puHen/ei-nuxer to poh i>kne sample bottle 2U Figure 6.4 Freeze v d»e capt tic- -2 Figure fej >.«Me-me»al activities «»l salt *ampk-* Mi Figure ~M Specimen bolder designed to prevent ctHiiamination h\ c*«iiaci »nh translcr IU'JC *** Figure 1.2 Sample holder lot diort-term deposit;- -n test ... 41 Figure 7.5 Salt droplets on a metal strip exposed m MSRr pump howl ej> lpa^c tor r> hr 42 Figure S.I Freeze vahe cjpsule 4* Figure 8.; DouMe-wail sample capsule 5o Figure 9. | T> ptcai graphite stupe* used in a stringer ••! surveillance >pecimoji» Ml Figure 9.2 Surveillance specimen str.nger r»l Figure 9.5 Sirmger containment .. «»l Figure 9.4 Stringer assembh r>2 Figure 9.5 Neutron "'iux and temperature profiles lor ci>rc surveillance assembU t»5 Figure 9.6 Scheme lor milling graphite samples M Figure 9 7 >£•,£ mneUlance specimen assembts 70 Figure 9.>j Cm.entralion profile tor '"ism impregnated CGB graphite, sample P-'»2 75 Figure 9.9 Concentration profiles tor **Sr and |40BJ in two samples ot(<»B. X 15 wide lace. and P-58 75 Figure 9.10 C.mcentration profiles lor "*Sr and |40Ba in psrolstic graphite 7h Figure 9.11 Concentration profiles lor 't$Nb and *' Zr in CGB graphite. X-15. double exposure 7h Figure 9.12 Concentration profiles tor ' *J Ru on two laces of the X-15 graphic- specimen. CGB. double exposure 77 Figure 9.13 Concentration profiles for' °* Ru.' *' Ce. and ' 44Ce in (OB graphite, sampie Y-9 77 Figure 9.14 Concentration profiles for' 4' C e and ' 44Ce m tw«» samples ol CGB graphite. X-13. wide face, and P-38 7« Figure 9.15 Fission product dislribition in unimpregnated CGB (P-551 graphite specimen irradiated in MSRt cycle ending March 25. 1968 7«> Figure 9.16 Fission product distribution in impregnated CGB (V-2H) graphite specimen irradiated in MSRt cycle ending March 25, l%8 80 »:i t-tpiir »» ' Dt>'tibuti>*i n p\ r<4> IK pjfkne specimen trroduied m MSRk lo» .>vkcniiof M^IJ. :s. INM »i hkpire M. Ik I rjnjuin-.'.o c<*fcmtMi>«i profile* m IOB aad pvroKtK. g;aphite M |-qpi:c M.1«# I ituum v<«wenif JIMCI A a IUOCIHW >•< drdafwe Irom the surtacf. specimen Y-7 J»~ |-iiuic «* ,'u |j:hiun. cuncenlratkwi a* a fundi** •»« dbtoBcc II.JTC the surface, specmen X-I5 *~ trqBirc M 'I f-luofu«r cvwimlijlMOk in fijphiie sample Y-7.