Neutron and gamma radiography of UO{sub 2} and TRIGA fuel elements
- Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR (United States)
The Oregon State TRIGA Reactor neutron radiography facility has been used to produce both neutron and gamma radiographs of reactor fuel. In this paper a comparison of the applicability of neutron and gamma radiography to both UO{sub 2} fuel pins and TRIGA fuel elements is made. In the case of UO{sub 2} fuel, conventional thermal neutron radiography produces excellent quality radiographs. These radiographs may be used to detect various defects in the fuel such as enrichment differences, cracks, end-capping, inclusions, etc. For TRIGA fuel elements, conventional thermal neutron radiography will not show the internal structure. This is due to the high hydrogen content of the fuel. These elements are typically 8.5 w/o uranium in Zr-H{sub 1.7}; the density of hydrogen in the fuel being about 80 percent that of water. Further, while epithermal radiography significantly improves the radiographs, defects may go undetected. As an alternative to neutron radiography, high energy gamma radiographs of TRIGA fuel elements have been taken using the same facility. The gamma spectrum emitted by the reactor core is sufficiently high in energy that very good radiographs may be obtained with this technique. These radiographs show excellent detail for the internal structure of the TRIGA fuel. (author)
- Research Organization:
- General Atomic Co., San Diego, CA (United States); Argonne National Laboratory-West, Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 21149362
- Report Number(s):
- INIS-US--09N0101; TOC--14
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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