Study of physico-chemical release of uranium and plutonium oxides during the combustion of polycarbonate and of ruthenium during the combustion of solvents used in the reprocessing of nuclear fuel

The level of consequences concerning a fire in a nuclear facility is in part estimated by the quantities and the physico-chemical forms of radioactive compounds that may be emitted out of the facility. It is therefore necessary to study the contaminant release from the fire. Because of the multiplicity of the scenarios, two research subjects were retained. The first one concerns the study of the uranium or plutonium oxides chemical release during the combustion of the polycarbonate glove box sides. The second one is about the physico chemical characterisation of the ruthenium release during the combustion of an organic solvent mixture (tributyl phosphate-dodecane) used for the nuclear fuel reprocessing. Concerning the two research subjects, the chemical release, i.e. means the generation of contaminant compounds gaseous in the fire, was modelled using thermodynamical simulations. Experiments were done in order to determine the ruthenium release factor during solvent combustion. A cone calorimeter was used for small scale experiments. These results were then validated by large scale tests under conditions close to the industrial process. Thermodynamical simulations, for the two scenarios studied. Furthermore, the experiments on solvent combustion allowed the determination of a suitable ruthenium release factor. Finally, the mechanism responsible of the ruthenium release has been found. (author)