Investigation of the distribution of fission products among molten fuel and reactor phases: (II). The distribution of fission products between molten iron and a molten uranium dioxide-basalt mixture☆

Abstract The solubility of uranium dioxide in molten basalt has been determined at 1550°C to be between 5 and 7 wt % and at 2200°C to be between 50 and 55 wt %. The distribution of some of the more important heat-producing fission products between molten iron and a molten uranium dioxide-basalt mixture has been studied. This has been done to evalutate the use of basalt as a fuel diluent and sacrificial material in a fast breeder reactor and to predict the fission product heat distribution in such a system. It was found that lanthanum, cerium and niobium were distributed to the molten uranium dioxide-basalt mixture, and molybdenum and ruthenium were distributed to the molten-iron phase.