Post-irradiation Examination of the AGR-1 Experiment: Plans and Preliminary Results

Conference · Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 2001

OSTI ID:1004269

Demkowicz, Paul

Abstract – The AGR-1 irradiation experiment contains seventy-two individual cylindrical fuel compacts (25 mm long x 12.5 mm diameter) each containing approximately 4100 TRISO-coated uranium oxycarbide fuel particles. The experiment accumulated 620 effective full power days in the Advanced Test Reactor at the Idaho National Laboratory with peak burnups exceeding 19% FIMA. An extensive post-irradiation examination campaign will be performed on the AGR-1 fuel in order to characterize the irradiated fuel properties, assess the in-pile fuel performance in terms of coating integrity and fission metals release, and determine the fission product retention behavior during high temperature accident testing. PIE experiments will include dimensional measurements of fuel and irradiated graphite, burnup measurements, assessment of fission metals release during irradiation, evaluation of coating integrity using the leach-burn-leach technique, microscopic examination of kernel and coating microstructures, and accident testing of the fuel in helium at temperatures up to 1800°C. Activities completed to date include opening of the irradiated capsules, measurement of fuel dimensions, and gamma spectrometry of selected fuel compacts.

• Research Organization: Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE - NE
• DOE Contract Number: DE-AC07-05ID14517
• OSTI ID: 1004269
• Report Number(s): INL/CON-10-19184; TRN: US1100648
• Resource Relation: Conference: HTR 2010,Prague, Czech Republic,10/18/2010,10/20/2010
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
ACCIDENTS
BURNUP
COATINGS
DIMENSIONS
FISSION
FISSION PRODUCTS
FUEL PARTICLES
GAMMA SPECTROSCOPY
GRAPHITE
HELIUM
IRRADIATION
KERNELS
OXYCARBIDES
POST-IRRADIATION EXAMINATION
RETENTION
SPENT FUELS
TEST REACTORS
TESTING
URANIUM
NGNP+TDO+VHTR+R&D+Fuel+AGR-1+AGR-2+Irradiation+Fis