Results and progress of fundamental research on fission product chemistry. Progress report in 2015

A fundamental research program on fission product (FP) chemistry has been conducted since 2012 in order to establish a FP chemistry database in LWR under severe accidents and to improve FP chemical models based on the database. Research outputs are reflected as fundamental knowledge to both the R and D of decommissioning of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (1F) and enhancement of LWR safety. Four research items have thus been established considering the specific issues of 1F and the priority in the source term research area, as follows: effects of boron (B) release kinetics and thermal-hydraulic conditions on FP behavior, cesium (Cs) chemisorption and reactions with structural materials, enlargement of a thermodynamic and thermophysical properties database for FP compounds and development of experimental and analytical techniques for the reproduction of FP behavior and for direct measurement methods of chemical form of FP compounds. In this report, the research results and progress for the year 2015 are described. The main accomplishment was the installation of a reproductive test facility for FP release and transport behavior. Moreover, basic knowledge about the Cs chemisorption behavior was also obtained. In addition to the four research items, a further research item is being considered for deeper interpretation of FP behavior by the analysis of samples outside of the 1F units. (author)