Extended burnup demonstration reactor fuel program. Semiannual progress report, October 1979-March 1980. Report XN-NF-80-26

Technical Report · Wed Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1980

OSTI ID:6730742

Woods, K N; Van Swam, L F

The first of three scheduled poolside fuel examinations at the Oyster Creek reactor conducted during February/March 1980, was directed at one of the four symmetrically loaded ENC 8 x 8 lead assemblies that had achieved a burnup of approx. 25,000 MWd/MTU. Forty-five of the fuel rods in assembly UD3-109 were removed and examined. In general, the individual fuel rods were in excellent condition. The average fuel rod diameter continued to decrease during the last cycle was assembly burnup increased from 19,500 to 25,700 MWd/MTU. The creepdown since the beginning of life (BOL) in the center of the fuel rods is about 0.003 in. The fuel rods bore no indication of cladding ridging. Fuel rod growth continued at a linear rate of about 0.02% per GWd/MTU burnup since BOL. Preliminary eddy current test data showed that the cladding was free of significant defects. Visual examination of fuel rods, spacers, and tie plate revealed no unusual conditions. An average assembly burnup of 31,000 MWd/MTU is projected by the end of the next reactor cycle. Calculated plastic strain and internal rod pressure were shown to be within the design limit at that burnup. Licensing approval was obtained for the first extended burnup cycle. A cryogenically cooled germanium gamma scanning system for use at poolside was designed.

• Research Organization: Exxon Nuclear Co., Inc., Richland, WA (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6730742
• Report Number(s): DOE/ET/34006-2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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