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THE APDA IRRADIATION TEST PROGRAM ON SELECTED URANIUM FUEL ALLOYS FOR JUNE 1954-JUNE 1957

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:4282433
The APDA irradiation test program from june 1954 to june 1957 for fuel materials included binary alloys of U-Cr, U-Zr, and U-Mo. It was shown that the U-5 wt.% chromium eutectic alloy does not have radiation stability. Irradiation of U-Zr alloy specimens containing 2, 2.2, 3, 5, 10, and 15% by weight of zirconium indicates that the radiation stability is inferior to the U-Mo alloys containing 3 1/2, 5, 7, and 10% by weight of molybdenum. The U-10 wt.% Mo alloy was selected as the reference fuel alloy for the Enrico Fermi Reactor, and tests to cover high burn-ups of this material under several conditions were completed. Post-irradiation meaasurements of density, dimensions, electrical reactivity, fission gas, and thermal conductivity were conducted on specimens irradiated from 0.36 to 1.4 total atom% burn-up. The results of the irradiations indicate that the retained gamma structare of the U-10 wt. % Mo alloy is more stable than the partially transformed or the transformed alpha-plus-epsilon stnuctures. However, none of the irradiated specimens of U-10 wt.% Mo showed severe dimensional changes. The average decrease in density of test specimens with retained gamma, partially transfermed, and transformed alpha-plus-epsilon stnuctures was determined to be 2.4, 3.3, and 3.9% per total atom% burn-up, respectively. (auth)
Research Organization:
Atomic Power Development Associates, Inc., Detroit
NSA Number:
NSA-13-004214
OSTI ID:
4282433
Report Number(s):
APDA-122
Country of Publication:
Country unknown/Code not available
Language:
English