STAINLESS STEEL-URANIUM DIOXIDE FUEL COMPONENTS FOR ARMY PACKAGE POWER REACTOR
The designs manufacture, and operation characteristics of the fuel components developed for the Army Package Power Reactor are discussed. The technological factors, such as compatibility, corrosion resistance, and irradiation behavior, which led to the selection of UO/sub 2/ as the fuel dispersant, B/sub 4/C as the burnout poison, and austenitic stainless steel as the cladding and matrix material, are reviewed. The main features of the component engineered for service in power-producing reactors of compact-core design and high-performance characteristics are described. Highly enriched fuel in the form of a refractory oxide is dispersed in a metallic matrix to maximize the heat-transfer surface available for each gram of U-235. It is contained in a stainless steel jacket to afford corrosion protection and retain the highly poisonous by-products of fission. The use of a burnout poison to facilitate control and prolong the life of the heavy-investment fuel component is discussed. Specifications covering the material, dimensional, thermal, and nuclear characteristics of the product are tabulated. The fabricational procedures developed and adopted for manufacturing the component are fully presented. This includes incorporation of the UO/sub 2/ and B/sub 4/C into stainiess steel compacts by powdermetallurgy techniques, methods for preparing composite fuel plates by roll cladding, and assembly and joining the thin plates into an integral unit by brazing with a nickel-base alloy. The fabrication problems associated with composition, chemical stability, homogeneity, fragmentation of the oxide and carbide particles, as well as sensitization, bond integrity, and the brazejoint design are discussed in detail. Quality control measures adopted to produce components within dimensional tolerance on a pilot-plant basis are described. These long-life fuel components are inexpensive to produce and their performance to date in the environment of pressurized-water and organic media has been excellent. The irradiation performance of the stainless steel -UO/sub 2/ materials combination under various degrees of burn-up as well as pertinent mechanicalproperty data are presented. A cost analysis is made on the over-all fuel cycle. (auth)
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab., Tenn.
- NSA Number:
- NSA-13-013570
- OSTI ID:
- 4251665
- Journal Information:
- Am. Inst. Mining Met. Petrol. Engrs., Inst. Metals Div., Spec. Rept. Ser., Vol. Vol: 5, No. 7; Other Information: Orig. Receipt Date: 31-DEC-59
- Country of Publication:
- Country unknown/Code not available
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
AUSTENITE
BORON CARBIDES
BRAZING
BURNOUT
BURNUP
CHEMICALS
COATING
CONTROL
CORROSION
CORROSION PROTECTION
ECONOMICS
ENRICHMENT
FISSION PRODUCTS
HEAT TRANSFER
IRRADIATION
JACKETS
JOINTS
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
NICKEL ALLOYS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXIDES
PERFORMANCE
PLANNING
POISONING
POWDER METALLURGY
POWER PLANTS
PREPARATION
PRESSURE
RADIATION EFFECTS
REACTORS
ROLLING
STABILITY
STAINLESS STEELS
STANDARDS
SURFACES
TABLES
URANIUM 238
URANIUM DIOXIDE
WATER