Post-Irradiation Examinations of the ATF Experiments - 2020 Status
- Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
This report contains the results of post-irradiation examination (PIE) of both Accident Tolerant Fuels-1 (ATF-1) rodlets and ATF-2 rodlets irradiated in the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR). The experiment is part of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Nuclear Technology Research and Development (NTRD) program’s Advanced Fuels Campaign (AFC). The ATF-1 PIE focused on the continuation of the analyses of five rodlets, one containing U3Si2 fuel, two containing UN-U3Si5 composites, and two with UN-U3Si2 composites. The non-destructive examinations of the U3Si2 rodlet showed results comparable to the previously investigated rodlets. The profilometry of the UN-U3Si2 composites highlighted permanent deformation of the cladding at the pellet-pellet interface, suggesting that hourglassing of the composite pellet occurred during irradiation, causing increased localized stresses on the Zirlo cladding tube due to Pellet-Cladding Mechanical Interaction (PCMI). The UN-U3Si5 rodlets, which were contained in Kanthal cladding, did not show enhanced cladding deformation at the pellet interfaces; however, it is to be noted that the initial gap of these two rodlets was larger than typical light water reactor (LWR) gaps. The larger gap might have been sufficient to accommodate the fuel swelling without having contact between the fuel and cladding, explaining the absence of PCMI. Regarding the fission products, no axial redistribution of the major gamma emitters was observed in any of the composite rodlets. Fission gas measurements on the UN-U3Si5 rodlets also has been performed. The estimated fission gas release, based on the calculated fission product inventory, remains limited, with a higher fission gas release for the rodlet that experienced a higher power.
- Research Organization:
- Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC07-05ID14517
- OSTI ID:
- 1773801
- Report Number(s):
- INL/EXT-20-59619-Rev000
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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