LAUSR

Abstract An irradiated graphite sphere of the 10 MW high temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTR-10) has been studied experimentally with a mechanical disintegration way and a suite of radiochemical analysis methods, including the total α/β counting measurement and the absolute activity measurement with a liquid scintillation counter and a high-purity germanium detector connected to a multichannel analyzer. The key nuclides in this irradiated graphite sphere were determined, which were H-3, C-14, Co-60, and Cs-137. The radial distributions of the specific activity for each nuclide were obtained experimentally and compared with theoretical calculations. The production mechanisms of H-3, C-14, Co-60, and Cs-137 in the irradiated graphite sphere of HTR-10 were discussed individually, and the generation sources for each nuclide were analyzed explicitly. Current results can supply important experimental data for source term analysis of HTR-10, and provide useful research reference for the decommissioning work and waste minimization of high temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGRs).