LAUSR

ABSTRACT Fuel debris in the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is thought to contain borides that are generated from B4C control material. In order to successfully devise methods to effectively remove the debris material, characterization of the properties of the fuel debris is essential. This paper presents some of the thermophysical and mechanical properties of two types of borides, FeB and CrB, and compares them with those of Fe2B and ZrB2. These are the representative borides that might have been generated in the Fukushima Daiichi (1F) nuclear power plant accident. We observed that the thermal conductivity values of both CrB and FeB are much lower than that of ZrB2, and are similar to that of Fe2B. Moreover, the Vickers hardness and fracture toughness of FeB and CrB are almost identical to each other, and similar to those of ZrB2 and Fe2B.