Fabrication and loading of fuel rods for the Light Water Breeder Reactor (LWBR Development Program)

Technical Report · Sat Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1986

OSTI ID:5947848

DeGeorge, V V; Goldberg, I ^[1]

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1. eds.

The fabrication and inspection operations used for the manufacture of approximately 24,000 fuel rods for the Light Water Breeder Reactor are described in detail. This report also describes the development work to establish the fabrication procedures and investigations undertaken to solve problems encountered during manufacturing. The approximately 10 foot long LWBR fuel rods were made in four outside diameters ranging from 0.306 inch (seed) to 0.832 inch (reflector). Each rod was fabricated by sealing cylindrical oxide fuel pellets (ThO/sub 2/-U/sup 233/O/sub 2/), into Zircaloy seamless tubes by welding Zircaloy enclosures at the ends. The special inspections performed to assure a high quality product meeting all design requirements are described. These inspections included weld radiography and ultrasonic inspection, in-motion radiography to evaluate internal dimensions and pellet integrity, helium leak testing, corrosion testing, and detection of surface contamination. The facilities designed and built for this fabrication effort are described and the resultant manufacturing yields are presented. 13 refs., 42 figs., 20 tabs.

• Research Organization: Bettis Atomic Power Lab., West Mifflin, PA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC11-76PN00014
• OSTI ID: 5947848
• Report Number(s): WAPD-TM-1278; ON: DE86009977
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
210500* -- Power Reactors
Breeding
ACOUSTIC TESTING
ALLOYS
BREEDER REACTORS
DESIGN
EVALUATION
FABRICATION
FUEL ELEMENTS
FUEL RODS
INSPECTION
LOADING
LWBR TYPE REACTORS
MATERIALS HANDLING
MATERIALS TESTING
NONDESTRUCTIVE TESTING
REACTOR COMPONENTS
REACTORS
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
TESTING
THERMAL REACTORS
TIN ALLOYS
ULTRASONIC TESTING
WATER COOLED REACTORS
WATER MODERATED REACTORS
ZIRCALOY
ZIRCONIUM ALLOYS
ZIRCONIUM BASE ALLOYS