Irradiated fuel reassembling experience at the fuel monitoring facility

Conference · Wed Nov 01 00:00:00 EST 1989 · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States)

OSTI ID:5490476

Aratani, K; Koizumi, A; Matsushima, H ^[1]

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1. Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuels Development Corporation, Ibaraki (Japan)

For the first time in the 10-yr hot operation of the fuel monitoring facility (FMF), the reassembling or irradiated fuels was successfully conducted and a reassembled irradiation vehicle was reinserted in Japanese experimental fast reactor JOYO. The FMF, one of the largest hot laboratories in Japan operated by the Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corporation (PNC), demonstrated its new capability in remote handling. More than 130 assemblies have already been examined and disassembled at FMF for postirradiation examination and many results have been obtained to evaluate fuel performance. In addition to these once-through examinations, it is becoming more and more important to conduct interim examinations and reinsertion for continuous irradiation. More flexibility for irradiation experiments will thus be provided. Since FMF was originally designed to make the reinsertion possible, there is a path to get the assembly back to the reactor. The main developments needed for the reinsertion of assemblies were as follows: (1) irradiation vehicle, (2) disassembling and interim examination, (3) decontamination of fuel pin surface, and (4) reassembling machine. This paper mainly describes items 2, 3, and 4. The reinsertion program is now planned for two vehicles a year, and several new types of irradiation vehicles for the reinsertion are now being developed. The reassembling machine may be slightly modified so that those new types of rigs can also be handled.

• OSTI ID: 5490476
• Report Number(s): CONF-891103-; CODEN: TANSA
• Journal Information: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States), Vol. 60; Conference: Winter meeting of the American Nuclear Society (ANS) and nuclear power and technology exhibit, San Francisco, CA (United States), 26-30 Nov 1989; ISSN 0003-018X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
42 ENGINEERING
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
FUEL ASSEMBLIES
POST-IRRADIATION EXAMINATION
FUEL ASSEMBLY DISMANTLING
DEMONSTRATION PROGRAMS
REMOTE HANDLING
JOYO REACTOR
FUEL MANAGEMENT
DECONTAMINATION
HOT CELLS
IRRADIATION
LOADING
PERFORMANCE
PLANNING
REACTOR FUELING
TRANSPORT
VEHICLES
BREEDER REACTORS
CLEANING
EPITHERMAL REACTORS
EQUIPMENT
EXPERIMENTAL REACTORS
FAST REACTORS
FBR TYPE REACTORS
LABORATORY EQUIPMENT
LIQUID METAL COOLED REACTORS
MATERIALS HANDLING
POWER REACTORS
REACTORS
RESEARCH AND TEST REACTORS
210500* - Power Reactors
Breeding
420203 - Engineering- Handling Equipment & Procedures
050800 - Nuclear Fuels- Spent Fuels Reprocessing