ON THE RELEASE OF STORED ENERGY IN IRRADIATED GRAPHITE

Technical Report · Wed Jun 27 04:00:00 EDT 1951

OSTI ID:4012307

Hetrick, D L

The build up of stored energy in graphite during reactor irradiation and the release of stored energy by thermal . annealing are analyzed in terms of reaction rate theory. A semi-empirical description of stored energy annealing up to 700 deg C valid for exposures less than 500 Mwd/T is obtained in terms of three sixth-order processes having discrete activation energies. The dependence of the activation energies on radiation exposure is obtained assuming the rate constant independent of exposure. It is found that processes having higher activation energies become increasingly important as irradiation continues. The activation energy of each process increases with exposure. The results are consistent with observations that radiation damage in graphite is less readily annealed at higher exposures. (auth)

• Research Organization: North American Aviation, Inc., Downey, Calif.
• DOE Contract Number: AT(11-1)-GEN-8
• NSA Number: NSA-15-018556
• OSTI ID: 4012307
• Report Number(s): NAA-SR-131(Del.)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

ACTIVATION ENERGY
ANNEALING
BURNUP
ENERGY
ENERGY LEVELS
EQUATIONS
GRAPHITE
HEATING
IRRADIATION
METALS, CERAMICS, AND OTHER MATERIALS
NEUTRONS
RADIATION DOSES
RADIATION EFFECTS
REACTORS
WIGNER EFFECT