Identification to a breached fuel pin in the IEM cell
Novel methods were successfully employed to identify one breached fuel pin in a 217-pin fuel assembly. The assembly was an experiment that had been irradiated at the Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF), an experimental liquid-metal reactor operated by Westinghouse Hanford Company for the US Dept. of Energy. A fuel assembly known to contain breached fuel pins was removed from the sodium-cooled FFTF reactor in November 1984. Later, this assembly was brought into the FFTF's Interim Examination and Maintenance (IEM) cell to be disassembled and, for the first time ever at FFTF, to identify a breached fuel pin. The synergistic evaluation of the four different verification techniques - visual examination, cladding swipe activity, wash water radiochemistry, and pin weight - provided rapid and positive identification. The capability to perform future detective work of this kind has been conclusively demonstrated.
- OSTI ID:
- 6929067
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-8711195-
- Journal Information:
- Trans. Am. Nucl. Soc.; (United States), Journal Name: Trans. Am. Nucl. Soc.; (United States) Vol. 55; ISSN TANSA
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Identification of a breached fuel pin in the Interim Examination and Maintenance Cell
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Related Subjects
210500 -- Power Reactors
Breeding
42 ENGINEERING
420203* -- Engineering-- Handling Equipment & Procedures
ACCIDENTS
EPITHERMAL REACTORS
EQUIPMENT
FAST REACTORS
FFTF REACTOR
FISSION PRODUCT RELEASE
FUEL ELEMENT FAILURE
FUEL ELEMENTS
FUEL PINS
HOT CELLS
LABORATORY EQUIPMENT
LIQUID METAL COOLED REACTORS
MATERIALS HANDLING EQUIPMENT
POST-IRRADIATION EXAMINATION
REACTOR ACCIDENTS
REACTOR COMPONENTS
REACTORS
REMOTE HANDLING EQUIPMENT
RESEARCH AND TEST REACTORS
RESEARCH REACTORS
SODIUM COOLED REACTORS
TEST REACTORS
WEIGHT MEASUREMENT