Progress report on H.T.G.C Pluto Loop irradiations II and III. Project DRAGON

Technical Report · Tue Jan 15 04:00:00 EST 1963

OSTI ID:4136135

Lengweiler, H.; Sterry, F.

The commissioning: of the Loop itself, and the conduct of the first irradiation have already been reported. This experiment was carried out with naked fuel compacts contained inside a purged fuel tube of impregnated graphite, of somewhat smaller section than the present DRAGON design. The second irradiation was of a-full-section fuel tube cut from a full size DRAGON prototype, and the fuel, again powder compacts, was enclosed in low-permeability 'boxes'. An 'internal' fission product trap, consisting of a suitable chamber filled with activated charcoal was provided in the 'cold' end of the fuel rod. The rest of the specimen and the loop itself was much the same as in the first experiment. The third irradiation, still in progress, is of compacts of fission-product-retaining fuel enclosed in a prototype fuel tube. The fuel particles are undiluted uranium dicarbide, pyrolytically coated with carbon. The fuel specimen is mechanically almost identical with II, but the loop itself has some new features, principally a Multiple Unit Sampling Trap (MUST) and a cold trap. The MUST provides a means of sampling the raw purge for short-lived fission gases and isolating the samples on active charcoal so that their daughters may be recognized after the experiment. The cold trap removes from the purge stream chemical impurities and also those fission gases which escape from the initial charcoal delay bed. Apparatus for detecting the presence and nature of fission products in the purge system during running is provided.

• Research Organization: Atomic Energy Establishment (AEE), Winfrith, England (United Kingdom); United Kingdom Atomic Energy Research Establishment (AERE), Harwell (United Kingdom)
• Sponsoring Organization: United Kingdom Atomic Energy Research Establishment (AERE)
• NSA Number: NSA-24-040986
• OSTI ID: 4136135
• Report Number(s): DP-Report--144; DW--(62)36; CONF-630103--18
• Country of Publication: United Kingdom
• Language: English

Related Subjects

COATED FUEL PARTICLES
COMPACTING
DRAGON
FISSION PRODUCTS
FUELS
GASES
GRAPHITE/graphite--U
radiation effects on fuels of
in-pile
HIGH- TEMPERATURE GAS-COOLED REACTOR EXPERIMENT/fuels for
irradiation testing of prototype
IN PILE LOOPS
IRRADIATION
LOSSES
N38150* --Power Reactor Development--Fuels
POWDERS
REACTOR FUELS/radiation effects on enriched uranium--graphite
in-pile
REACTORS
TESTING
URANIUM/graphite--U
radiation effects on fuels of
in-pile