THE APPLICATION OF A NOMINAL 48 WT % U-Al ALLOY TO PLATE-TYPE ALUMINUM RESEARCH REACTOR FUEL ELEMENTS

Technical Report · Mon Mar 10 23:00:00 EST 1958

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/4309339· OSTI ID:4309339

Thurber, W C; Erwin, J H; Beaver, R J

Under the Atoms-For-Peace Plan, the specification that uranium be limited to 20% enrichment in the U/sup 236/ isotope has necessitated development of a highly-concentrated uranium--aluminum alloy as the fuel material in the composite aluminum plates of research reactor fuel elements. Efforts have been directed to determining the suitability of a nominal 48 wt.% U--Al alloy in relation to previously established procedures for manufacturing platetype aluminum fuel elements. Increasing the uranium concentration from 18 wt. % to the 48 wt.% resulted in increased segregation, higher strength, and loss of ductility, creating additional fabrication difficulties. Nonuniform deformation of the alloy during roll bonding into composite plates caused localized thinning of the cladding which may limit the material to specific reactor applications. Substitution of Type 6061 aluminum for Type 1100 alumium as frame and cladding of the fuel plates improves this condition. A fuel element, containing the 48 wt.% U-Al alloy, was irradiated in the active lattice of the MTR to an estimated burnup of 25% of the U/sup 235/ atoms with no observable damage. (auth)

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., Tenn.
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-26
• NSA Number: NSA-12-006613
• OSTI ID: 4309339
• Report Number(s): ORNL-2351
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

ALUMINUM
ALUMINUM ALLOYS
BONDING
BURNUP
CANNING
DEFORMATION
DISTRIBUTION
DUCTILITY
FABRICATION
FUEL ELEMENTS
GRAIN BOUNDARIES
IRRADIATION
LATTICES
MATERIALS TESTING
MINERALOGY, METALLURGY, AND CERAMICS
MTR
PLATES
QUANTITY RATIO
RADIATION EFFECTS
REACTORS
RESEARCH REACTORS
TENSILE PROPERTIES
THICKNESS
URANIUM 235
URANIUM ALLOYS