High wettability of liquid caesium iodine with solid uranium dioxide.

ABSTRACT: In March 2011, the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident caused nuclear fuel to melt and the release of high-volatility fission products into the environment. Caesium and iodine caused environmental contamination and public exposure. Certain fission-product behaviours remain unclear. We found experimentally that liquid CsI disperses extremely favourably toward solid UO₂, exhibiting a contact angle approaching zero. We further observed the presence of CsI several tens of micrometres below the surface of the solid UO₂ sample, which would be caused by the infiltration of pores network by liquid CsI. Thus, volatile fission products released from molten nuclear fuels with complex internal composition and external structure migrate or evaporate to varying extents,

SUBMITTER: Kurosaki K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5597628 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature