To improve the safety of nuclear fuel, research on the advanced nuclear fuel (UO2) by adding various trace elements is being conducted. For example, the addition of metals such as Mo, Cr can improve the thermal conductivity of nuclear fuel, minimizing the diffusion of fission products. Trace metal oxide additives (SiO2, Cr2O3, Al2O3, etc.) can suppress the release of fission gases. In general, complete dissolution of the fuel sample is required for chemical analysis to determine its elemental compositions. Among widely used metal oxide additives, aluminum oxide is difficult to dissolve in nitric acid due to its excellent thermal and chemical stability. In this study, we investigated on different chemical dissolution methods by applying a microwave digestion system under various acid solutions. We confirmed the validity of the digestion method by carrying out trace element analysis using an Inductively-Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometer (ICP-AES).

• Seungcheon Lee(Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI)) Corresponding author
• Jaeseok Lee(Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI))
• Tae-Hong Park(Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI))
• Hye-Ryun Cho(Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI))
• Jai Il Park(Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI))