Microstructural Characterization of Irradiated U{sub 0.17}ZrH{sub 1.6} Using Ultrasonic Techniques

Journal Article · Sat Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 2017 · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society

OSTI ID:23047424

Ramuhalli, Pradeep; Jacob, Rick; MacFarlan, Paul J.; Casella, Andrew M. ^[1]

---

1. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA (United States)

In recent years, there has been an increased level of effort to understand the changes in microstructure that occur due to irradiation of nuclear fuel. The primary driver for this increased effort is the potential for designing new fuels that are safer and more reliable, in turn enabling new and improved reactor technologies. Much of the data on microstructural change in irradiated fuels is generated through a host of post irradiation examination techniques such as optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to determine grain structure, porosity, crack geometry, etc. in irradiated fuels. Such 'traditional' examination techniques were recently used to characterize a novel new fuel consisting of U{sub 0.17}ZrH{sub 1.6} pellets bonded to zircaloy-2 cladded with lead-bismuth eutectic before and after irradiation. In addition to the conventional suite of post-irradiation examination tools, several nondestructive interrogation techniques exist which bring the potential for in-situ assessment of microstructural changes. One such method, ultrasonic examination, was tested on each of the samples. This paper describes the results of this examination. Ultrasonic measurements have a long and successful history of use for nondestructive materials characterization, including nondestructive evaluation (NDE) of degradation and damage, microstructure characterization, and measurement of physical parameters for process control. Ultrasonic NDE is critical to the nuclear power industry's in-service inspection program for maintaining pressure boundary integrity, and is being actively investigated for PIE of fuels. Ultrasonic measurements, typically performed at 10 MHz or higher, performed post irradiation show that fuel microstructural parameters, such as porosity and grain size, can be correlated to ultrasonic velocity. The objective of this examination was to assess the feasibility of using ultrasonic measurements on irradiated fuel to determine sensitivity to microstructural changes.

• OSTI ID: 23047424
• Journal Information: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society, Journal Name: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society Vol. 116; ISSN 0003-018X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
GEOMETRY
GRAIN SIZE
IN-SERVICE INSPECTION
IRRADIATION
LEAD-BISMUTH EUTECTIC
MHZ RANGE
NONDESTRUCTIVE ANALYSIS
NUCLEAR POWER
OPTICAL MICROSCOPY
POROSITY
POST-IRRADIATION EXAMINATION
PROCESS CONTROL
REACTOR TECHNOLOGY
SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
SENSITIVITY
SPENT FUELS
TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
ULTRASONIC WAVES
ZIRCALOY 2