Calculation of Chemical Composition of Ag-In-Cd Alloy after Irradiation

Ag-In-Cd control rods are widely used in PWR nuclear power plants. The irradiation swelling behavior of Ag-In-Cd alloy is very important to the safety assessment of control rod during its operation, and the change of composition is the primary cause for the swelling. The relationship between the alloy composition and thermo neutron fluence was seldom reported up to today. In this work, a group of differential equations was proposed to describe the composition of Ag-In-Cd alloy during irradiation based on the transmutation reactions and the reaction cross sections. A numeric resolution to the equations was established. The alloy compositions at different thermo-neutron fluences were calculated and a group of formula for composition prediction was obtained. The average content for each element is approximately a linear function of thermo neutron fluence, and the content of Cd and Sn in the surface layer will be higher than two times of that in the center.