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Identification of a breached fuel pin in the IEM (Interim Examination and Maintenance) cell

Conference · · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (USA)
OSTI ID:5237264
; ;

Novel methods were successfully employed to identify one breached fuel pin in a 217-pin fuel assembly. The assembly was an experiment that had been irradiated at the Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF), an experimental liquid-metal reactor operated by Westinghouse Hanford Company for the US Department of Energy. A fuel assembly known to contain breached fuel pins was removed from the sodium-cooled FFTF reactor in November 1984. Later, this assembly was brought into the FFTF's Interim Examination and Maintenance (IEM) cell to be disassembled and, for the first time ever at FFTF, to identify a breached fuel pin. The synergistic evaluation of the four different verification techniques - visual examination, cladding swipe activity, wash water radiochemistry, and pin weight - provided rapid and positive identification. The capability to perform future detective work of this kind has been conclusively demonstrated.

OSTI ID:
5237264
Report Number(s):
CONF-8711195--
Journal Information:
Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (USA), Journal Name: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (USA) Vol. 55; ISSN TANSA; ISSN 0003-018X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Identification to a breached fuel pin in the IEM cell
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Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
210500 -- Power Reactors
Breeding
42 ENGINEERING
420203* -- Engineering-- Handling Equipment & Procedures
ACCIDENTS
EPITHERMAL REACTORS
EQUIPMENT
FAST REACTORS
FFTF REACTOR
FISSION PRODUCT RELEASE
FUEL ELEMENT FAILURE
FUEL ELEMENTS
FUEL PINS
HOT CELLS
LABORATORY EQUIPMENT
LIQUID METAL COOLED REACTORS
MATERIALS HANDLING EQUIPMENT
POST-IRRADIATION EXAMINATION
REACTOR ACCIDENTS
REACTOR COMPONENTS
REACTORS
REMOTE HANDLING EQUIPMENT
RESEARCH AND TEST REACTORS
RESEARCH REACTORS
SODIUM COOLED REACTORS
TEST REACTORS
WEIGHT MEASUREMENT