Neutron characterization of UN/U-Si accident tolerant fuel prior to irradiation

Conference · Fri Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2016

OSTI ID:22765232

Losko, A. S. ^[1]; Vogel, S. C.; Bourke, M. A.M.; Voit, S. L.; McClellan, K. J.; Nelson, A. T. ^[1]; Tremsin, A. S. ^[2]

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1. Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545 (United States)
2. University of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)

Neutron imaging and tomographic reconstructions provide non-destructive three-dimensional characterization of nuclear fuel pellets that are typically about a cubic centimeter in volume with energy-resolved neutron imaging at a pulsed neutron source offering unique characterization not possible at a reactor source. Recent measurements at the Los Alamos Neutrons Science Center (LANSCE) studied a series of uranium nitride / uranium silicide ceramic composite pellets. This paper provides examples of spatially resolved measurements of cracks, isotopic enrichment and density with a (current) spatial resolution of approximately 75 microns. Phase and texture measurements were also performed but are not discussed in this paper. The UN/U-Si systems are under consideration as candidate systems for accident tolerant fuel. The examples are taken from measurements on a total of 9 pellets of differing UN/U-Si formulations (2 enrichment levels), U{sub 3}Si{sub 5} reference formulations (two enrichment levels) and pellets with known flaws. The {sup 235}U enrichments ranged from 0.2 to 8.8 wt.%. Pellets of the same composition are scheduled for irradiation in the Advanced Test Reactor this year. (authors)

• Research Organization: American Nuclear Society - ANS, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (United States)
• OSTI ID: 22765232
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
ACCIDENT-TOLERANT NUCLEAR FUELS
CERAMICS
COMPUTERIZED TOMOGRAPHY
CRACKS
DEFECTS
ENRICHMENT
FUEL PELLETS
IRRADIATION
NEUTRON SOURCES
NEUTRONS
SPATIAL RESOLUTION
TEST REACTORS
TEXTURE
THREE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
URANIUM
URANIUM 235
URANIUM NITRIDES
URANIUM SILICIDES