Irradiation Testing of a SiC/SiC Channel Box in the High Flux Isotope Reactor

Technical Report · Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1474535· OSTI ID:1474535

Petrie, Christian M. ^[1]; Smith, Kurt R. ^[1]; Burns, Joseph R. ^[1]; Le Coq, Annabelle G. ^[1]; Katoh, Yutai ^[1]; Deck, Christian P. ^[1]

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1. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

This report provides a summary of the experiment design and the neutronics and structural analyses of a miniature SiC/SiC channel box that will be irradiated in the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR). The goal of this experiment is to evaluate the lateral bowing in the channel box during irradiation under a radial neutron flux gradient. The concern is that lateral bowing could potentially block coolant flow or interfere with control blade movements in boiling water reactors (BWRs). The experiments described in this work will help validate thermomechanical models of channel box bowing. The experiment design allows for one channel box specimen to be irradiated in the HFIR while being directly cooled by the reactor coolant. Monte Carlo neutronics analyses are performed to determine the three-dimensional profile of the dose rate in the channel box. Dose is then converted to volumetric swelling, using literature data, and the resulting swelling profile is used as an input to structural finite element calculations that predict lateral bowing.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1474535
• Report Number(s): ORNL/TM-2018/957
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English