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

DDE Design Status Report Nov 2011

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1034809· OSTI ID:1034809
 [1];  [1]
  1. Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
The National Nuclear Security Agency Global Threat Reduction Initiative employs the Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors (RERTR) Fuel Development program to facilitate maturation of Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) fuel technology in order to enable conversion of High Power Research Reactors (HPRR) to LEU fuels. The RERTR Fuel Development program has overseen design, fabrication, irradiation, and examination of numerous tests on small to medium sized specimens containing LEU fuels. To enable the three nearest term HPRR conversions, including the Massachusetts Institutes of Technology Reactor (MITR), University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR), and National Bureau of Standard Reactor (NBSR), the FD pillar is currently focused on qualification of the 'Base Monolithic Design'. The Base Monolithic Design consists of uranium-10 wt% molybdenum alloy (U-10Mo) in the form of a monolithic foil, with thin zirconium interlayers, clad in aluminum by hot isostatic press. The licensing basis of the aforementioned HPRR's restricts them from testing lead test elements of their respective LEU fuel element designs. In order to provide the equivalent of a lead test assembly, one Design Demonstration Experiment (DDE) is planned for each of the three NRC licensed reactors.
Research Organization:
Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
DOE Contract Number:
AC07-05ID14517
OSTI ID:
1034809
Report Number(s):
INL/EXT--11-23991
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English