POWER REACTOR PROGRAM. Progress Report to Savannah River Operations Office, United States Atomic Energy Commission, February 1, 1961-February 28, 1961

Technical Report · Mon Apr 24 04:00:00 EST 1961

OSTI ID:4045812

Isserow, S; White, A M; Jordan, E F; Richmond, W J; Smoot, P R; Green, H M; Gilman, A R; Tuffin, W B

The development of components for heavy-water moderated reactors was continued. A continuation of the statistical study of the cladding thickness of various thinwalled outer tubes indicated that autoradiography may be used with confidence to determine uniformity of outer cladding. Design changes in the eddy current thickness tester appeared necessary before it can be used to determine cladding thickness variations. Cladding thickness variations were found to arise from relatively high frequency sinusoidal variations superimposed over gross variations that are related to the eccentricity of the wall. Changes in billet design and preparation and in extrusion technique were incorporated in the processing of two additional thin-walled outer tubes. Additional U-- 1 wt.% Si and unalloyed dingot uranium specimens were prepared for capsule irradiation. Directional solidification during brazing was found to be advantageous for the dingot specimens. Another ingot specimen was welded, hydrostatically recanned in copper, and beta treated. Work was continued on two experimental compositions for capsule irradiation. Clad U--0.3 wt.% Al--0.5 wt.% Si alloy had greater bond . strength in the as-extruded condition than in either the beta or gamma treated condition and was relatively ductile. A slowly cooled and isothermally transformed U--0.3 wt.% Cr--0.3 wt.% Mo casting was evaluated to determine if it was-free from cracks. A specimen produced by transientmelting the uranium core of a Zircaloy-clad tube at 45 deg C above the melting point was further evaluated. After cold working of four stainless steel-Zircaloy joints, the only visible defects were those which corresponded to irregularities that were not removed in the machining prior to cold working. (auth)

• Research Organization: Nuclear Metals, Inc., Concord, Mass.
• NSA Number: NSA-15-021840
• OSTI ID: 4045812
• Report Number(s): NMI-7237
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

ALUMINUM ALLOYS
BRAZING
CANNING
CASTING
CHROMIUM ALLOYS
EDDY CURRENTS
EXTRUSION
HEAT TREATMENTS
HEAVY WATER MODERATOR
IRRADIATION
JOINTS
MELTING POINTS
MOLYBDENUM ALLOYS
PHASE DIAGRAMS
PLANNING
POWER PLANTS
PREPARATION
RADIOGRAPHY
REACTOR TECHNOLOGY
REACTORS
SILICIDES
STAINLESS STEELS
TESTING
THICKNESS
TUBES
URANIUM ALLOYS
VARIATIONS
WELDING
ZIRCALOY