Estimates of Gaseous Fission Product Release from Mononitride Fuel into the Primary Circuit of the BR-10 Reactor

5/18/2026 2026 - #02 Safety, Reliability and Diagnostics of NPI

Dmitriev D.V. Markelov V.D. Filimonov E.V.

https://doi.org/10.26583/npe.2026.2.12

The article presents the results of an analysis of experimental data on the release of gaseous fission products (GFP) from mononitride fuel into primary circuit gas cavity of the BR-10 reactor, obtained during tests of failed fuel element. In modern nuclear power engineering, nitride fuel is considered as one of the most promising types of fuel for fast neutron reactors, and therefore experimental studies of its properties in contact with liquid metal heat carriers are of great interest and create the necessary array of initial data for verifying existing computational models. Such studies were carried out at the BR-10 reactor as part of experimental fuel elements with failed fuel element. The conditions for experiment fuel elements with mononitride uranium fuel and failed fuel element in the cladding in the BR-10 reactor are described, calculated estimates of the rate of GFP release from a fuel element with a leaky shell into a sodium coolant carrier upon its contact with fuel are obtained using models of recoil and knock-out, as well as the corresponding volumetric activity of GFP in the gas cavity of the reactor, the obtained estimate was compared with experimental measurement data on the reactor BR-10. The results of the study confirm the assumption that recoil and knock-out as the main mechanism for GFP release from nitride fuel.

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fast reactor sodium coolant nitride fuel failed fuel element experiment cascade knocking calculating estimate

Link for citing the article: Dmitriev D.V., Markelov V.D., Filimonov E.V. Estimates of Gaseous Fission Product Release from Mononitride Fuel into the Primary Circuit of the BR-10 Reactor. Izvestiya vuzov. Yadernaya Energetika. 2026, no. 2, pp. 190-201; DOI: https://doi.org/10.26583/npe.2026.2.12 (in Russian).