Detection and analysis of particles with failed SiC in AGR-1 fuel compacts

Hunn, John D.; Baldwin, Charles A.; Gerczak, Tyler J.; Montgomery, Fred C.; Morris, Robert N.; Silva, Chinthaka M.; Demkowicz, Paul A.; Harp, Jason M.; Ploger, Scott A.

doi:10.1016/j.nucengdes.2015.12.011

Title: Detection and analysis of particles with failed SiC in AGR-1 fuel compacts

Full Record
Other Related Research

Abstract

As the primary barrier to release of radioactive isotopes emitted from the fuel kernel, retention performance of the SiC layer in tristructural isotropic (TRISO) coated particles is critical to the overall safety of reactors that utilize this fuel design. Most isotopes are well-retained by intact SiC coatings, so pathways through this layer due to cracking, structural defects, or chemical attack can significantly contribute to radioisotope release. In the US TRISO fuel development effort, release of ¹³⁴Cs and ¹³⁷Cs are used to detect SiC failure during fuel compact irradiation and safety testing because the amount of cesium released by a compact containing one particle with failed SiC is typically ten or more times higher than that released by compacts without failed SiC. Compacts with particles that released cesium during irradiation testing or post-irradiation safety testing at 1600–1800 °C were identified, and individual particles with abnormally low cesium retention were sorted out with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Irradiated Microsphere Gamma Analyzer (IMGA). X-ray tomography was used for three-dimensional imaging of the internal coating structure to locate low-density pathways through the SiC layer and guide subsequent materialography by optical and scanning electron microscopy. In addition, all three cesium-releasing particles recovered frommore »« less

Authors:

Hunn, John D. ^[1]; Baldwin, Charles A. ^[1]; Gerczak, Tyler J. ^[1]; Montgomery, Fred C. ^[1]; Morris, Robert N. ^[1]; Silva, Chinthaka M. ^[1]; Demkowicz, Paul A. ^[2]; Harp, Jason M. ^[2]; Ploger, Scott A. ^[2]

Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

Publication Date:: Wed Apr 06 00:00:00 EDT 2016

Research Org.:: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)

OSTI Identifier:: 1325503

Alternate Identifier(s):: OSTI ID: 1359679

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-00OR22725

Resource Type:: Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:: Nuclear Engineering and Design

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 306; Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 0029-5493

Publisher:: Elsevier

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS; TRISO; coated particle fuel; AGR; PIE

Citation Formats


                    Hunn, John D., Baldwin, Charles A., Gerczak, Tyler J., Montgomery, Fred C., Morris, Robert N., Silva, Chinthaka M., Demkowicz, Paul A., Harp, Jason M., and Ploger, Scott A. Detection and analysis of particles with failed SiC in AGR-1 fuel compacts.  United States: N. p., 2016. 
Web.  doi:10.1016/j.nucengdes.2015.12.011.

Copy to clipboard


                    Hunn, John D., Baldwin, Charles A., Gerczak, Tyler J., Montgomery, Fred C., Morris, Robert N., Silva, Chinthaka M., Demkowicz, Paul A., Harp, Jason M., & Ploger, Scott A. Detection and analysis of particles with failed SiC in AGR-1 fuel compacts.  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2015.12.011

Copy to clipboard


                    Hunn, John D., Baldwin, Charles A., Gerczak, Tyler J., Montgomery, Fred C., Morris, Robert N., Silva, Chinthaka M., Demkowicz, Paul A., Harp, Jason M., and Ploger, Scott A. Wed .  
"Detection and analysis of particles with failed SiC in AGR-1 fuel compacts".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2015.12.011.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1325503.

Copy to clipboard


                    
@article{osti_1325503,

  title        = {Detection and analysis of particles with failed SiC in AGR-1 fuel compacts},

  author       = {Hunn, John D. and Baldwin, Charles A. and Gerczak, Tyler J. and Montgomery, Fred C. and Morris, Robert N. and Silva, Chinthaka M. and Demkowicz, Paul A. and Harp, Jason M. and Ploger, Scott A.},

  abstractNote = {As the primary barrier to release of radioactive isotopes emitted from the fuel kernel, retention performance of the SiC layer in tristructural isotropic (TRISO) coated particles is critical to the overall safety of reactors that utilize this fuel design. Most isotopes are well-retained by intact SiC coatings, so pathways through this layer due to cracking, structural defects, or chemical attack can significantly contribute to radioisotope release. In the US TRISO fuel development effort, release of 134Cs and 137Cs are used to detect SiC failure during fuel compact irradiation and safety testing because the amount of cesium released by a compact containing one particle with failed SiC is typically ten or more times higher than that released by compacts without failed SiC. Compacts with particles that released cesium during irradiation testing or post-irradiation safety testing at 1600–1800 °C were identified, and individual particles with abnormally low cesium retention were sorted out with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Irradiated Microsphere Gamma Analyzer (IMGA). X-ray tomography was used for three-dimensional imaging of the internal coating structure to locate low-density pathways through the SiC layer and guide subsequent materialography by optical and scanning electron microscopy. In addition, all three cesium-releasing particles recovered from as-irradiated compacts showed a region where the inner pyrocarbon (IPyC) had cracked due to radiation-induced dimensional changes in the shrinking buffer and the exposed SiC had experienced concentrated attack by palladium; SiC failures observed in particles subjected to safety testing were related to either fabrication defects or showed extensive Pd corrosion through the SiC where it had been exposed by similar IPyC cracking.},

  doi          = {10.1016/j.nucengdes.2015.12.011},

  journal      = {Nuclear Engineering and Design},

  number       = C,

  volume       = 306,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {Wed Apr 06 00:00:00 EDT 2016},

  month        = {Wed Apr 06 00:00:00 EDT 2016}

}

Copy to clipboard

Journal Article:

Free Publicly Available Full Text

Accepted Manuscript (Publisher)

Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Publisher's Version of Record

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2015.12.011

Other availability

Search WorldCat to find libraries that may hold this journal

Citation Metrics:

Cited by: 30 works

Citation information provided by
Web of Science

Save / Share:

Export Metadata

Save to My Library

Similar Records in DOE PAGES and OSTI.GOV collections:

PIE on Five Irradiated AGR-1 Compacts

Technical Report Hunn, John D. ; Morris, Robert Noel ; Baldwin, Charles ; ...

Post-irradiation examination (PIE) is in progress on coated particle fuel compacts from the first Advanced Gas Reactor irradiation experiment (AGR-1). PIE has been completed on five compacts at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Three compacts (Compacts 6-1-1, 4-4-2, and 5-2-3) were examined in the as-irradiated condition and two compacts (Compacts 6-4-3 and 3-3-2) were subjected to safety testing at 1600°C, followed by post-safety testing examination similar to the PIE performed on the as-irradiated compacts. All compacts were subjected to a standard set of analyses that included the following: (1) detection of exposed fission products by Deconsolidation-Leach-Burn-Leach (DLBL), (2) measurementmore »« less
https://doi.org/10.2172/1633150

Full Text Available
AGR-1 Irradiated Compact 6-1-1 PIE Report: Evaluation of As-Irradiated Fuel Performance Using Leach Burn Leach, IMGA, Materialography, and X-ray Tomography

Technical Report Hunn, John D. ; Morris, Robert Noel ; Baldwin, Charles ; ...

The AGR-1 irradiation test train consisted of six independently monitored capsules. All capsules contained twelve compacts in three stacks of four compacts each [Pope 2010]. Compact 6-1-1 was located in capsule 6, at the top of the test train. The compact was in stack 1 (one of the two stacks closest to the core) in position 1 (at the bottom of the 4 compact stack). Compact 6-1-1 was identified in the fabrication data package as LEU01-46T-Z32 [Hunn et al. 2006]. Details of the compact fabrication and measured properties can be found in that data package. The compact lot was mademore »« less
https://doi.org/10.2172/1649082

Full Text Available
Irradiation performance of AGR-1 high temperature reactor fuel

Journal Article Demkowicz, Paul A. ; Hunn, John D. ; Ploger, Scott A. ; ... - Nuclear Engineering and Design

The AGR-1 experiment contained 72 low-enriched uranium oxide/uranium carbide TRISO coated particle fuel compacts in six capsules irradiated to burnups of 11.2 to 19.6% FIMA, with zero TRISO coating failures detected during the irradiation. The irradiation performance of the fuel including the extent of fission product release and the evolution of kernel and coating microstructures was evaluated based on detailed examination of the irradiation capsules, the fuel compacts, and individual particles. Fractional release of ^110mAg from the fuel compacts was often significant, with capsule-average values ranging from 0.01 to 0.38. Analysis of silver release from individual compacts indicated that itmore »« less
Cited by 32
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2015.09.011

Full Text Available
Performance of AGR-1 high-temperature reactor fuel during post-irradiation heating tests

Journal Article Morris, Robert N. ; Baldwin, Charles A. ; Demkowicz, Paul A. ; ... - Nuclear Engineering and Design

The fission product retention of irradiated low-enriched uranium oxide/uranium carbide tri-structural isotropic (TRISO) fuel compacts from the Advanced Gas-Cooled Reactor 1 (AGR-1) experiment has been evaluated at temperatures of 1600–1800 °C during post-irradiation safety tests. Fourteen compacts (a total of ~58,000 particles) with a burnup ranging from 13.4% to 19.1% fissions per initial metal atom (FIMA) have been tested using dedicated furnace systems at Idaho National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The release of fission products 110mAg, 134Cs, 137Cs, 154Eu, 155Eu, 90Sr, and 85Kr was monitored while heating the fuel specimens in flowing helium. The behavior of silver, europium,more »« less
Cited by 21
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2016.04.031

Full Text Available
Irradiation performance of AGR-1 high temperature reactor fuel

Conference Demkowicz, Paul A. ; Hunn, John D. ; Morris, Robert N. ; ...

The AGR-1 experiment contained 72 low-enriched uranium oxide/uranium carbide TRISO-coated particle fuel compacts in six capsules irradiated to burnups of 11.2 to 19.5% FIMA, with zero TRISO coating failures detected during the irradiation. The irradiation performance of the fuel–including the extent of fission product release and the evolution of kernel and coating microstructures–was evaluated based on detailed examination of the irradiation capsules, the fuel compacts, and individual particles. Fractional release of 110mAg from the fuel compacts was often significant, with capsule-average values ranging from 0.01 to 0.38. Analysis of silver release from individual compacts indicated that it was primarily dependentmore »« less
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2015.09.011

Full Text Available

Similar Records