/sup 238/Pu fuel-form processes. Quarterly report, October-December 1982

Technical Report · Sun May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1983

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6126915· OSTI ID:6126915

A welding test in which multiple quenches are made in a single clad vent set was used to compare weld-quench cracking susceptibilities of S, V and X batches of DOP-26 iridium alloy. Results indicate that V-batch alloy is probably acceptable for production welding but use of X-batch alloy remains questionable. Analysis of fracture index of vacuum outgasses General-Purpose Heat Source (GPHS) production pellets from spring 1981 through August 1982 showed a cyclical trend in pellet fracture index. A noticeable reduction in the magnitude of the fracture index was observed starting in May 1982. However, the cyclic nature persisted. Since September 1982, the fracture index has been the lowest in production history. The cyclic pattern of the fracture index may also have been broken. ORNL has cross calibrated their contained and uncontained spark source mass spectrometers (SSMS) to ensure the results obtained with each will be correlatable with each other. SSMS analysis of iridium archive rings indicates that aluminum may be lost from the iridium clads during their two vacuum heat treatment steps. A method of measuring the surface area of both feed powder and shards using a Blaine tester is being evaluated. The results suggest that the method may be useful in correlating powder and shard properties with GPHS pellet quality.

• Research Organization: Du Pont de Nemours (E.I.) and Co., Aiken, SC (USA). Savannah River Lab.
• DOE Contract Number: AC09-76SR00001
• OSTI ID: 6126915
• Report Number(s): DPST-82-128-4; ON: DE83013473
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES
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11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
ACTINIDE COMPOUNDS
ACTINIDE ISOTOPES
ACTINIDE NUCLEI
ALLOYS
ALPHA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CHALCOGENIDES
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
FABRICATION
FAILURES
FRACTURES
HEAT SOURCES
HEAVY NUCLEI
IRIDIUM ALLOYS
ISOTOPES
JOINING
NESDPS Office of Nuclear Energy Space and Defense Power Systems
NUCLEI
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PLATINUM METAL ALLOYS
PLUTONIUM 238
PLUTONIUM COMPOUNDS
PLUTONIUM ISOTOPES
PLUTONIUM OXIDES
RADIOISOTOPE HEAT SOURCES
RADIOISOTOPES
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
SURFACE AREA
SURFACE PROPERTIES
TRANSURANIUM COMPOUNDS
WELDING
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES