Isolation and Microscopic Characterization of Nuclear Fuel Particles from Two Contaminated Soils of Chernobyl

ABSTRACTNuclear fuel particles were separated, from two different Chernobyl contaminated soils, by sedimentation in bromoform. Their physico-chemical characteristics were studied by scanning electron microscopy. The two soils show the same types of fuel particles: one part of these particles contains U and O and the other part contains U, Zr and O. The structure and the surface morphology of the studied particles are variable and are characteristic of the conditions of their formation. The source term is thus heterogeneous. This heterogeneity has direct consequences on the dissolution of the fuel particles and should be taken into account in mathematical models.