In the plutonium and uranium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel fabrication process, to reduce the retention of the nuclear fuel material in the glove box and curtail the external exposure, it has been developed the powder adhesion prevention technology on the inner surface of the glove box components by nanoparticle coating. The nanoparticle coating on the glass substrates is effective in preventing the adhesion of alumina powders in the previous research. In this study, to investigate the applicability of the nanoparticle coating on the glovebox components, the particle adhesion tests using the MOX powder, the uranium dioxide (UO~2~) powder, and Al~2~O~3~ powder were carried out, and particle adhesion-preventing performance of the nanoparticle coating was evaluated.

A hydrophobic surface modifier containing silica nanoparticles with a primary particle size of about 7 nm was uniformly applied onto the whole surface of the acrylic substrate of the glove box components. The MOX powder was sieved through a 160 μm mesh sieve, and exposed to acrylic test pieces with and without nanoparticle coating, and the Al~2~O~3~ particles and UO~2~ particles were distributed to the acrylic test pieces by an airflow.

For coated nanoparticles, the normalized adhesion forces of the UO~2~ particles were almost identical to those for the Al~2~O~3~ particles. The desorbed UO~2~ particles at 3000 rpm or less were low on the uncoated surface, with most particles released at 4000 rpm or higher. The minimum normalized adhesion force for the particle with the smallest diameter of about 5 μm is estimated as 3.8 nN or less. Contrarily, on the coated surface of the acrylic test piece, desorbed particles occurred from 1000 rpm, with the minimum normalized adhesion force for a particle of similar size estimated as ≤0.2 nN. These results reveal that nanoparticle coating reduces the minimum normalized adhesion force between the particles and the surface of the acrylic test piece by about 5%.

As a result of the MOX particle adhesion experiment, the average mass of the MOX powder was about 2.0 g/m^2^ for the acrylic test piece without nanoparticle coating, decreasing to about 0.18 g/m^2^ for the test piece involving nanoparticle coating. The nanoparticle coating therefore, reduced the MOX powder adhesion amount on the acrylic test piece surface to about 10% the amount measured for the non-coated surface.

The effect of preventing adhesion of the nuclear fuel material can be obtained by using the nanoparticle coating on the glove box components. This method is effective for reduction of the retention of the nuclear fuel material in the glove box and lowering the external exposure.


Preventing Nuclear Fuel Material Adhesion on Glove Box Components Using Nanoparticle Coating

Division / Sponsors: 
Power Division & Nuclear Engineering Division (NED)

Power Conference
Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/POWER/POWER2020/volume/83747

International Conference on Nuclear Engineering
Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/ICONE/ICONE2020/volume/83761

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