A transversal mapping of the Gd concentration was measured in UO2-Gd2O3 nuclear fuel pellets by electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy (EPR). The quantification was made from the comparison with a Gd2O3 reference sample. The nominal concentration in the pellets is UO2: 7.5 % Gd2O3. A concentration gradient was found, which indicates that the Gd2O3 amount diminishes towards the edges of the pellets. The concentration varies from (9.3 +/- 0.5)% in the center to (5.8 +/- 0.3)% in one of the edges. The method was found to be particularly suitable for the precise mapping of the distribution of Gd3+ ions in the UO2 matrix.
@article{arxiv.1402.7278,
title = {Determination of Gd concentration profile in UO2-Gd2O3 fuel pellets},
author = {D. Tobia and E. L. Winkler and J. Milano and A. Butera and R. Kempf and L. Bianchi and F. Kaufmann},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1402.7278},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
10 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables. Submitted to Journal of Nuclear Materials