Basic study on fast reactor failed fuel detection and location method with resonance ionization mass spectrometry

The present study is aiming to develop a new and advanced Failed Fuel Detection and Location (FFDL) technique based on fission product gas monitoring with Resonance Ionization Mass Spectrometry (RIMS). A feasibility study on the RIMS-FFDL was carried out through basic experiments to detect Xe/Kr by using a RIMS system for common utilization installed at the Nuclear Engineering Research Laboratory of the University of Tokyo. This report describes the basic performance necessary for the design of RIMS-FFDL, such as the detection limit, the elemental selectivity, etc, obtained from experiments and their theoretical analyses. The report also describes the successful results on the detection and isotopic ratio analysis of ppb level Xe/Kr in the cover gas sampled from the 'JOYO', which would lead to the conclusion that the RIMS-FFDL is able to satisfy all the requirements for conventional FFDL methods in addition to a novel function of on-line isotopic ratio analysis useful for the tag gas method. (author)