Experimental confirmation of the design to minimize vibration and wear in 61-pin wire-spaced EBR-II subassemblies

Conference · Mon May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1978

OSTI ID:6676087

Fukuda, S. K.

Examinations of HEDL 61-pin subassemblies comprised of 5.84 mm (0.230) inch diameter mixed-oxide fuel pins with 1.02 mm (0.040'') diameter spacer wire (PNL-9, -10, -11, HEDL-N-E, -N-F), showed severe cladding and spacer wire wear after irradiation in EBR-II. A comparison of a large number of design, fabrication, and irradiation parameters for all of the HEDL subassemblies indicated that the porosity per ring of fuel pins correlated significantly with the occurrence of wear on the fuel pins. The porosity per ring is the clearance between the flat-to-flat pin bundle dimension and the inner hex can dimension divided by the number of hexagonal fuel pin rings in the subassembly. The porosity per ring for PNL-9, -10, -11 and HEDL-N-E was 0.15 mm/ring (6 mils/ring) and 0.18 mm/ring (7 mils/ring) for the HEDL-N-F subassembly. Since the original FTR subassembly design had a porosity/ring spread of 0.04 mm/ring to 0.16 mm/ring (1.67 to 6.11 mils/ring) an additional series of irradiation tests was conducted to confirm that a tighter fuel pin bundle would eliminate the wear.

• Research Organization: Hanford Engineering Development Lab., Richland, WA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: EY-76-C-14-2170
• OSTI ID: 6676087
• Report Number(s): HEDL-SA-1504-FP; CONF-780622-71
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
220600* -- Nuclear Reactor Technology-- Research
Test & Experimental Reactors
BREEDER REACTORS
CONFIGURATION
EBR-2 REACTOR
EPITHERMAL REACTORS
EXPERIMENTAL REACTORS
FAST REACTORS
FBR TYPE REACTORS
FLUID FLOW
FLUID MECHANICS
FUEL ASSEMBLIES
FUEL ELEMENTS
FUEL PINS
HYDRAULICS
LIQUID FLOW
LIQUID METAL COOLED REACTORS
MECHANICAL VIBRATIONS
MECHANICS
POWER REACTORS
REACTOR COMPONENTS
REACTORS
RESEARCH AND TEST REACTORS
SODIUM COOLED REACTORS
WEAR