Safety Testing and Destructive Examination of AGR-2 UO2 Compact 3-1-1
Post-irradiation examination and elevated-temperature safety testing are being performed on compacts from the Advanced Gas Reactor (AGR) Fuel Development and Qualification Program’s second irradiation experiment (AGR-2). The compacts in the AGR-2 irradiation experiment held either tristructural isotropic (TRISO)-coated particles containing uranium oxide fuel kernels (UO2) or TRISO-coated particles containing fuel kernels with both uranium carbide and uranium oxide phases (UCO). In UO2 TRISO particles, oxygen released by uranium fission can react with the surrounding carbon in the buffer layer to form carbon monoxide (CO). Excess CO can lead to various irradiation performance issues under certain operating conditions, such as pressure-induced fracture, kernel migration, and silicon carbide (SiC) corrosion. In UCO TRISO particles, CO formation is reduced because the chemical potential for oxidation of uranium carbide is lower than for oxidation of carbon.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-00OR22725
- OSTI ID:
- 1606690
- Report Number(s):
- ORNL/TM-2020/1451; TRN: US2103938
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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