Influence of gamma quanta on hydrogen yield during water radiolysis on a zirconium surface

Zirconium is a rare metal that finds extensive application in nuclear energy, radio electronics, medicine, and various other fields of science and technology because of its remarkable qualities. With the development of nuclear energy, zirconium has attracted attention as a potential structural material for nuclear power reactors. The value of zirconium as a structural material for nuclear science and technology is determined by the fact that it has a small thermal neutron trapping cross-section, high corrosion resistance, and good mechanical properties. Radiolytic processes of hydrogen accumulation in reactors are characterized by the release of molecular hydrogen. They were observed during homogeneous radiolysis of water, which did not take into account the influence of radiation and radiation-thermal processes of structural materials in contact with water on the accumulation of molecular hydrogen. As a result of surface physical and chemical processes of metallic materials with an aggressive environment, the states of the surfaces change, which ultimately lead to the oxidation of these materials. In this research work, the kinetics of accumulation of molecular hydrogen during heterogeneous radiolysis of water was investigated in the systems Zr_met + H₂O and nano - Zr + H₂O at room temperature. The kinetics of accumulation of molecular hydrogen during heterogeneous radiolysis of water was studied for these systems. The values of the speeds and radiation-chemical yields of molecular hydrogen were determined. During heterogeneous radiolysis of water, when moving from Zr_met + H₂O to the nano-Zr + H₂O system, the values of the rates of formation and radiation-chemical yields of molecular hydrogen increase by 2.4 times. This indicates that, in the case of nano-Zr in water, there is an effective energy transfer from the solid phase to the water molecules.