MACROSCOPIC CALCULATIONAL MODEL OF FISSION-GAS RELEASE FROM WATER-REACTOR FUELS

Existing models for estimating fission gas release rate usually have fuel temperature as independent variable. Use of fuel temperature, however, often brings an excess ambiguity in the estimation because it is not a rigorously definable quantity as a function of heat generation rate and burnup. To derive a mathematical model that gives gas release rate explicitly as a function of design and operational parameters. the Booth-type diffusional model was modified by changing the character of the diffusion constant from physically meaningful quantity into a mere mathematical parameter, and also changing its temperature dependency into power dependency. The derived formula was found, by proper choice of arbitrary constants, to satisfactorily predict the release rates under a variety of irradiation histories up to a burnup of 60,000 MWd/t. For simple power histories, the equation can be solved analytically by defining several transcendental functions, which enables simple calculation of release rate using graphs.