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U.S. Department of Energy
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Proposed power upgrade of the hot fuel examination facility's neutron radiography reactor

Conference ·
OSTI ID:21146757
; ;  [1]
  1. Argonne National Laboratory-West, Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
The Hot Fuel Examination Facility, HFEF, is one of several facilities located at the Argonne Site. HFEF comprises a large hot cell where both non-destructive and destructive examination of highly-irradiated reactor fuels are conducted in support of the LMFBR program. One of the non-destructive examination techniques utilized at HFEF is neutron radiography. When the NRAD facility was designed and constructed, an operating power level of 250 kw was considered to be adequate for obtaining radiographs of the type of specimens envisaged at that time. Since that time, several things have occurred that have tended to increase radiography exposure times to as much as 90 minutes each. In order to decrease exposure times, the reactor power level is to be increased from 250 kW to 1 MW. This increase in power will necessitate several engineering and design changes. The proposed upgrade of the NRAD facility will increase the neutron flux available in the beam tubes appreciably. The increased flux will enable NRAD to continue to meet its operational commitments in a timely manner and to develop state-of-the-art techniques in the future as it has in the past.
Research Organization:
GA Technologies Inc., San Diego, CA (United States); Northrop Research and Technology Center, Palos Verdes Peninsula, CA (United States)
OSTI ID:
21146757
Report Number(s):
INIS-US--09N0074; TOC--16
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English