Development of Commercial-Length Nuclear Fuel Post-Irradiation Examination Capabilities at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory
- ORNL
The U.S. Department of Energy Fissile Materials Disposition Program is pursuing disposal of surplus weapons-usable plutonium by reactor irradiation as the fissile constituent of mixed oxide (MOX) fuel. Lead test assemblies (LTAs) have been irradiated for approximately 36 months in Duke Energy s Catawba-1 nuclear power plant. Per the MOX fuel qualification plan, destructive post-irradiation examinations (PIEs) are to be performed on second-cycle rods (irradiated to an average burnup of approximately 42 GWd/MTHM). These LTA bundles are planned to be returned to the reactor and further irradiated to approximately 52 GWd/MTHM. Nondestructive and destructive PIEs of these commercially irradiated weapons-derived MOX fuel rods will be conducted at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in the Irradiated Fuels Examination Laboratory (IFEL). PIE began in early 2009. In order to support the examination of the irradiated full-length (~3.66 m) MOX fuel rods, ORNL in 2004 began to develop the necessary infrastructure and equipment for the needed full-scope PIE capabilities. The preparations included modifying the IFEL building to handle a commercial spent-fuel shipping cask; procurement of cask-handling equipment and a skid to move the cask inside the building; development of in-cell handling equipment for cask unloading; and design, fabrication, and testing of the automated, state-of-the-art PIE examination equipment. This paper describes these activities and the full-scope PIE capabilities available at ORNL for commercial full-length fuel rods.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC05-00OR22725
- OSTI ID:
- 966747
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: GLOBAL/TOPFUEL 2009: International LWR Fuel Performance Topical Meeting, Paris, France, 20090906, 20090911
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
BURNUP
CASKS
FABRICATION
FISSILE MATERIALS
FUEL RODS
IRRADIATION
NUCLEAR FUELS
NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
ORNL
OXIDES
PLUTONIUM
POST-IRRADIATION EXAMINATION
PROCUREMENT
SPENT FUELS
TESTING
UNLOADING
Commercial-Length Nuclear Fuel Post-Irradiation Examination