Gas-Collection Technique for Measurement of Fission-Gas Retention in Irradiated Mo U02 Cermets

摘要

A method is described for determining the quantity of rare gas fission products retained in irradiated molybdenum-uranium dioxide cermet fuel specimens. Information concerning the location of the gas in the cermet structure is also obtained. The method utilizes differential dissolution of molybdenum from the cermet followed by the separate dissolution of the uranium dioxide. Cold-trap pumping of the gases liberated during boiling of the solutions enables a high percentage of the rare gases originally in the cermet to be collected in a sample can. Contents of the sample can are determined by mass spectrometric and gamma-ray counting techniques.