Updated Results of Ultrasonic Transducer Irradiation Test
- Idaho National Laboratory, P.O. Box 1625, MS 4112, Idaho Falls, ID, 38415-3840 (United States)
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 902 Battelle Blvd. Richland, WA, 99354 (United States)
- Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 S. Cass Avenue Argonne, IL, 60439 (United States)
- Pennsylvania State University, 212 Earth and Engr. Sciences Building, University Park, PA, 16802 (United States)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave. Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States)
- Rempe and Associates, LLC, 360 Stillwater, Idaho Falls, ID 83404 (United States)
- Commissariat a l'energie atomique et aux energies alternatives, Centre d'etudes de Cadarache, 13108 Saint-Paul-lez-Durance (France)
Ultrasonic technologies offer the potential for high accuracy and resolution in-pile measurement of a range of parameters, including geometry changes, temperature, crack initiation and growth, gas pressure and composition, and microstructural changes. Many Department of Energy-Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) programs are exploring the use of ultrasonic technologies to provide enhanced sensors for in-pile instrumentation during irradiation testing. For example, the ability of small diameter ultrasonic thermometers (UTs) to provide a temperature profile in candidate metallic and oxide fuel would provide much needed data for validating new fuel performance models. These efforts are limited by the lack of identified ultrasonic transducer materials capable of long term performance under irradiation test conditions. To address this need, the Pennsylvania State University (PSU) was awarded an Advanced Test Reactor National Scientific User Facility (ATR NSUF) project to evaluate the performance of promising magnetostrictive and piezoelectric transducers in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Research Reactor (MITR) up to a fast fluence of at least 10{sup 21} n/cm{sup 2}. A multi-National Laboratory collaboration funded by the Nuclear Energy Enabling Technologies Advanced Sensors and Instrumentation (NEET-ASI) program also provided initial support for this effort. This irradiation, which started in February 2014, is an instrumented lead test and real-time transducer performance data are collected along with temperature and neutron and gamma flux data. The irradiation is ongoing and will continue to approximately mid-2015. To date, very encouraging results have been attained as several transducers continue to operate under irradiation. (authors)
- Research Organization:
- Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers - IEEE, 3 Park Avenue, 17th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10016-5997 (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 22531404
- Report Number(s):
- ANIMMA-2015-IO-358; TRN: US16V0364102345
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: ANIMMA 2015: 4. International Conference on Advancements in Nuclear Instrumentation Measurement Methods and their Applications, Lisboa (Portugal), 20-24 Apr 2015; Other Information: Country of input: France; 24 Refs.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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