Carbon-14 inventories and behaviour in LWR-spent fuel rods during reprocessing

Radioactive carbon-14 is produced in fuel and clad of nuclear reactor fuel elements during the operation of power plants. Its radiological importance stems from the dominant role of carbon in the biosphere, and from the ability of C-14 to form volatile compounds as CO2, CO, CH4 etc., especially during the reprocessing of irradiated fuel. The inventory and the behaviour of C-14 during reprocessing of LWR fuel rods was determined experimentally by KWU for the BWR KKI with uranium fuel and for PWR KWO with uranium and mixed-oxide fuel. In order to verify the calculational tools for the prediction of the C-14 formation, the measured inventory is compared with theoretical results from KfK