Fuel testing in the power burst facility: a review of methods

Technical Report · Thu Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1984

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5159632· OSTI ID:5159632

Miller, R W

This document presents a description of the Power Burst Facility (PBF) at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory and briefly describes a number of experimental methods and designs of test trains used in past programs and planned for new programs to study the behavior of light water reactor fuel under conditions ranging from normal to severe accident. The PBF is a thermal reactor with a central 28-cm-diameter, 0.914-m-long through-hole flux-trap for testing purposes. Steady state and transient neutron flux capabilities are described. The reactor has been used in studies of severe fuel damage, operational transients, pellet-cladding interaction, power-cooling-mismatch (burnout and vapor blanketing), loss-of-coolant accident, and extremely fast transients representing reactivity initiated accidents. Test trains developed for these programs range from single-, four-, and nine-rod assemblies, up to the current 32-rod bundles being used for severe fuel damage tests. Test trains and typical instruments are described, as are new test trains and instruments capable of operating near the melting point of UO/sub 2/ (3130 K).

• Research Organization: EG and G Idaho, Inc., Idaho Falls (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC07-76ID01570
• OSTI ID: 5159632
• Report Number(s): EGG-2303; ON: DE84009490
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
220600 -- Nuclear Reactor Technology-- Research
Test & Experimental Reactors
220900* -- Nuclear Reactor Technology-- Reactor Safety
ACCIDENTS
FUEL ELEMENTS
FUEL RODS
PBF REACTOR
PERFORMANCE TESTING
PULSED REACTORS
REACTOR ACCIDENTS
REACTOR COMPONENTS
REACTOR SAFETY
REACTORS
SAFETY
TANK TYPE REACTORS
TESTING
WATER COOLED REACTORS