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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Flat plate bonded fuel elements: Report number 2, 11 August--10 October 1953

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/10185133· OSTI ID:10185133

Attention has continued to be concentrated on routes employing either wrought uranium or powder metallurgy product for the making of flat plate fuel elements of approximately 0.180-inch uranium metal core thickness bonded to either ribbed or ribless aluminum sheaths. Intermediate goals of the program are to have elements 18 inches long for MTR irradiation tests this fall and to make sufficient advance in the overall program in 1954 so that an initial reactor charge of 15-foot long fuels can be provided as early as possible in 1955. The development of a satisfactory process tube for retaining an assembly of several fuel elements is also required. Uranium of satisfactory quality for fabrication into fuel elements appears to have been produced by the August high alpha rolling at Superior Steel, and it seems likely from the electroplating results that the metal can be employed for electroplating and bonding without such surface preparation as vapor blasting, grinding, or machining. Difficulty in obtaining aluminum components, both sheaths and process tubes, remains a bottleneck in the development program and specifically has delayed work on the wrought metal samples for MTR tests.

Research Organization:
Du Pont de Nemours (E.I.) and Co., Wilmington, DE (United States). Explosives Dept.
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AC09-76SR00001
OSTI ID:
10185133
Report Number(s):
DPW--53-19-2; SR/H--812; ON: DE95000471
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English