A revaluation of helium/dpa ratios for fast reactor and thermal reactor data in fission-fusion correlations
- Pacific Northwest National Lab., Richland, WA (United States)
For many years it has been accepted that significant differences exist in the helium/dpa ratios produced in fast reactors and various proposed fusion energy devices. In general, the differences arise from the much larger rate of (n,{alpha}) threshold reactions occurring in fusion devices, reactions which occur for energies {ge} 6 MeV. It now appears, however, that for nickel-containing alloys in fast reactors the difference may not have been as large as was originally anticipated. In stainless steels that have a very long incubation period for swelling, for instance, the average helium concentration over the duration of the transient regime have been demonstrated in an earlier paper to be much larger in the FFTF out-of-core regions than first calculated. The helium/dpa ratios in some experiments conducted near the core edge or just outside of the FFTF core actually increase strongly throughout the irradiation, as {sup 59}Ni slowly forms by transmutation of {sup 58}Ni. This highly exothermic {sup 59}Ni(n,{alpha}) reaction occurs in all fast reactors, but is stronger in the softer spectra of oxide-fueled cores such as FFTF and weaker in the harder spectra of metal-fueled cores such as EBR-II. The formation of {sup 59}Ni also increases strongly in out-of-core unfueled regions where the reactor spectra softens with distance from the core.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 414892
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/ER-0313/20; ON: DE97000700; TRN: 97:001411
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: Oct 1996; Related Information: Is Part Of Fusion materials semiannual progress report for the period ending June 30, 1996; PB: 358 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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