In pressurized water reactors (PWRs, or REPs in France) the nuclear fuel rods (uranium oxide or uranium/plutonium oxide mix) used as the power source are enclosed in such metallic cladding. Thus, their integrity is essential during the lifetime of the nuclear fuel (i.e for 4 to 6 years), since these claddings are the first barrier between the radioactive products and the environment. Therefore, being able to characterize them before, during and after use, is an important challenge.
 | view of the MARS beamline end station,
for transmission diffraction |
This first diffraction test, very conclusive, has already been able to quantify spatial and spectral resolution of the beam provided on the MARS beamline, and to precisely identify improvements to be made to the experimental setup in order to improve again the measurement conditions. These results also show the significant contribution of synchrotron radiation to material with nuclear applications, notably, through being able to reveal minor secondary phases, under incomparable conditions.
In the context of these studies, the next stage is now to get the complementary conditions, in technical aspects (shielding, detection, survey…) and administrative aspects (authorization from SOLEIL Security Group and from the French Nuclear Safety Authority) in order to carry out similar characterizations on activated samples after irradiation. Experiments on such radioactive samples, emitting high amounts of γ rays, should be possible on MARS beamline by 2010 or 2011, because of the complexity of the acts that remain to be completed.
