Activity release from damaged fuel during the Paks-2 cleaning tank incident in the spent fuel storage pool

Abstract During crud removal operations the integrity of 30 fuel assemblies was lost at high temperature at the unit No. 2 of the Paks NPP. Part of the fission products was released from the damaged fuel into the coolant of the spent fuel storage pool. The gaseous fission products escaped through the chimney from the reactor hall. The volatile and non-volatile materials remained mainly in the coolant and were collected on the filters of water purification system. The activity release from damaged fuel rods during the Paks-2 cleaning tank incident was estimated on the basis of coolant activity concentration measurements and chimney activity data. The typical release rate of noble gases, iodine and caesium was 1–3%. The release of non-volatile fission products and actinides was also detected.