Advanced electron microscopic techniques applied to the characterization of irradiation effects and fission product identification of irradiated TRISO coated particles from the AGR-1 experiment

Conference · Mon Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2013

OSTI ID:22264220

Rooyen, I.J. van; Lillo, T. M.; Trowbridge, T. L.; Madden, J. M. ^[1]; Wu, Y. Q. ^[2]; Goran, D. ^[3]

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1. Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID 83415-6188 (United States)
2. Boise State University, Boise, ID 83725-2090 (United States)
3. Brucker Nano Gmbh, Berlin, 12489 (Germany)

Preliminary electron microscopy of coated fuel particles from the AGR-1 experiment was conducted using characterization techniques such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and wavelength dispersive spectroscopy (WDS). Microscopic quantification of fission-product precipitates was performed. Although numerous micro- and nano-sized precipitates observed in the coating layers during initial SEM characterization of the cross-sections, and in subsequent TEM diffraction patterns, were indexed as UPd{sub 2}Si{sub 2}, no Ag was conclusively found. Additionally, characterization of these precipitates highlighted the difficulty of measuring low concentrations of Ag in precipitates in the presence of significantly higher concentrations of Pd and U. The electron microscopy team followed a multi-directional and phased approach in the identification of fission products in irradiated TRISO fuel. The advanced electron microscopy techniques discussed in this paper, not only demonstrate the usefulness of the equipment (methods) as relevant research tools, but also provide relevant scientific results which increase the knowledge about TRISO fuel particles microstructure and fission products transport.

• Research Organization: American Nuclear Society, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (United States)
• OSTI ID: 22264220
• Resource Relation: Conference: GLOBAL 2013: International Nuclear Fuel Cycle Conference - Nuclear Energy at a Crossroads, Salt Lake City, UT (United States), 29 Sep - 3 Oct 2013; Other Information: Country of input: France; 17 refs.; Related Information: In: Proceedings of GLOBAL 2013: International Nuclear Fuel Cycle Conference - Nuclear Energy at a Crossroads| 1633 p.
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
COATED FUEL PARTICLES
CONCENTRATION RATIO
CROSS SECTIONS
DIFFRACTION
FISSION PRODUCTS
IRRADIATION
MICROSTRUCTURE
NANOSTRUCTURES
NUCLEAR FUELS
PRECIPITATION
SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
SPECTROSCOPY
TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY