Qualitative comparison of bremsstrahlung X-rays and 800 MeV protons for tomography of urania fuel pellets

Journal Article · Mon Feb 11 00:00:00 EST 2013 · Review of Scientific Instruments

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4789947· OSTI ID:1238593

Morris, Christopher L. ^[1]; Bourke, Mark A. ^[1]; Byler, Darrin D. ^[1]; Chen, Ching-Fong ^[1]; Hogan, Gary E. ^[1]; Hunter, James F. ^[1]; Kwiatkowski, Kris K. ^[1]; Mariam, Fesseha G. ^[1]; McClellan, Kenneth J. ^[1]; Merrill, Frank E. ^[1]; Morley, Deborah J. ^[1]; Saunders, Alexander ^[1]

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1. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

We present an assessment of x-rays and proton tomography as tools for studying the time dependence of the development of damage in fuel rods. Also, we show data taken with existing facilities at Los Alamos National Laboratory that support this assessment. Data on surrogate fuel rods has been taken using the 800 MeV proton radiography (pRad) facility at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE), and with a 450 keV bremsstrahlung X-ray tomography facility. The proton radiography pRad facility at LANSCE can provide good position resolution (<70 μm has been demonstrate, 20 μm seems feasible with minor changes) for tomography on activated fuel rods. Bremsstrahlung x-rays may be able to provide better than 100 μm resolution but further development of sources, collimation and detectors is necessary for x-rays to deal with the background radiation for tomography of activated fuel rods.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• Grant/Contract Number: AC52-06NA25396
• OSTI ID: 1238593
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-12-23590; RSINAK
• Journal Information: Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 84, Issue 2; ISSN 0034-6748
• Publisher: American Institute of Physics (AIP)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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