Fabrication experience of Al- sup 233 U and Al-Pu plate fuel for the Purnima III and Kamini research reactors

Journal Article · Tue Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 1991 · Nuclear Technology; (United States)

OSTI ID:5582884

Ganguly, C; Prasad, G J; Mahule, N; Ghosh, J K; Assari, K V.J.; Chandrasekharan, K N.P.; Muralidhar, S; Balan, T S; Roy, P R ^[1]

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1. Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Bombay 400085 (IN)

This paper reports on aluminum-clad Al-20 wt% {sup 233}U and Al-23 wt% Pu plate fuel subassemblies that have been fabricated for the Purnima III critical facility and the Kamini research reactor. The fabrication flow sheet consists of preparing the master alloy using aluminum and uranium or plutonium metals as feed materials, remelting and casting the fuel alloy ingots, rolling, picture framing and sandwiching the fuel alloy between aluminum sheets, roll bonding, locating the fuel alloy core outline by x-ray radiography, and trimming and machining to final dimensions. Metallic molds produce better ingots than graphite ones. The addition of zirconium during melting improves the microstructure of the Al-U and Al-Pu castings and facilitates hot rolling of the ingots. In the subassembly the fuel plates are finally locked in aluminum spacer grooves by a novel roll-swaging technique. High-resolution x-ray radiographs and microdensitometric scans are utilized to confirm the homogeneous distribution of the fissile material in the fuel plates. Nonbond areas are detected by blister testing and immersion ultrasonic testing of the roll-bonded fuel plates.

• OSTI ID: 5582884
• Journal Information: Nuclear Technology; (United States), Vol. 96:1; ISSN 0029-5450
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
KAMINI REACTOR
FUEL ASSEMBLIES
PLUTONIUM
PURNIMA REACTOR
URANIUM 233
ALLOYS
ALUMINIUM
CASTINGS
DISTRIBUTION
FABRICATION
FLOWSHEETS
FUEL PLATES
GRAPHITE
MELTING
METALS
MOLDING MATERIALS
ULTRASONIC TESTING
X-RAY RADIOGRAPHY
ZIRCONIUM
ACOUSTIC TESTING
ACTINIDE ISOTOPES
ACTINIDE NUCLEI
ACTINIDES
ALPHA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CARBON
DIAGRAMS
ELEMENTAL MINERALS
ELEMENTS
EPITHERMAL REACTORS
EVEN-ODD NUCLEI
EXPERIMENTAL REACTORS
FAST REACTORS
FUEL ELEMENTS
HEAVY ION DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
HEAVY NUCLEI
INDUSTRIAL RADIOGRAPHY
ISOTOPES
MATERIALS
MATERIALS TESTING
MINERALS
NEON 24 DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
NONDESTRUCTIVE TESTING
NONMETALS
NUCLEI
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
RADIOISOTOPES
REACTOR COMPONENTS
REACTORS
RESEARCH AND TEST REACTORS
SPONTANEOUS FISSION RADIOISOTOPES
TANK TYPE REACTORS
TESTING
THERMAL REACTORS
TRANSITION ELEMENTS
TRANSURANIUM ELEMENTS
URANIUM ISOTOPES
WATER COOLED REACTORS
WATER MODERATED REACTORS
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
ZERO POWER REACTORS
220300* - Nuclear Reactor Technology- Fuel Elements