HOMOGENEOUS REACTOR PROGRAM QUARTERLY PROGRESS REPORT FOR PERIOD ENDING JULY 31, 1960

Technical Report · Tue Nov 01 00:00:00 EST 1960

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/4127741· OSTI ID:4127741

8Homogeneous Reactor Test (HRT). The program of reactor maintenance and major repairs to the core tank was continued. A sample of the core wall at the edge of the upper hole was cut and removed from the reactor for metallographic examination, and the circular opening left by the core sample was reamed to receive a conical patch. Tools were developsd and used successfully to remove cutup screen strips from the tee-section of the core access piping. Maintenance on other reactor parts included the replacement of the fuel system primary and secondary recombiners and the replacement of the fuel-condensate block valves. Instrument maintenance was also performed. Macro- and micro-examinations of the specimen from the core wall showed conclusively that the hole was formed by melting through the core wall with an external heat source. The HRT core-vessel thickness was measured, using a remote manipulator and ultrasonic measuring equipment. The improved multiclone was fabricated and tested in preparation for installation with the reverse-flow fuel-circulating pump. A 450-gpm canned-motor fuelcirculation pump, which will be used to reverse the direction of flow in the reactor, was pretreated and tested to obtain hydraulic-performance data. The maximum pressure rise in the HRT following a cold-water accident was calculated for upward core-fluid flow and for reversed flow. The possibility of a criticality accident in transferring irradiated fuel solution from the HRT was investigated. Engineering Development. The cylindrical reentrant core model, 2 ft in diameter and 6 ft long, was tested further. A general arrangement layout of a 400 Mw(t) reactor vessel with a ThO/sub 2/ pellet blanket was completed to define the mechanical details of this type of reactor vessel. A 200 Z pump fitted with alumina bearings continued to operate satisfactorily. The 300-SM slurry system was tested successfully for almost 2000 hr. A slurry of 1600 deg Cfired ThO/sub 2/ circulated in 200 B loop for 3200 hr showed no deposition of ThO/sub 2/ on a heat-transfer surface. Four sets of Kennametal grade KH (tungsten carbide) and Kentanium 162 B (titanium carbide) valve trim were received and will be tested in slurry service. Solution Fuels. Measurements were made of the relative dissolution rates of various solids at 250 deg C in oxygenated, well-stirred, synthetic HRT fuel solution. The solids tested were UO/ sub 2/, U/sub 3/O/sub 8/, UO/sub 3/, and CuO - 3UO/sub 3/. Liquid-liquid equilibria and critical temperatures were determined in the system UO/sub 3/ -- SO/sub 3/ --D/sub 2/O. The system NiO --SO/sub 3/ --H/sub 2/O was investigated at temperatures above 300 deg C in an attempt to find liquid-liquid immiscibility and to define this subsystem of the multicomponent system UO/sub 3/ --CuO -- NiO - -SO/sub 3/ --H/sub 2/O. Previous studies of Th(NO/sub 3/)/sub 4/ solutions were extended by an investigation of the solution-solid equilibrium boundaries of the system ThO/sub 2/--HNO/sub 3/--H/sub 2/O at 200 and 300 deg C. The corrosion of types 347 and cast CD4MCu stainless steel was investigated in a simulated fuel solution. Corrosion tests with Coors Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ in water at 100 and 300 deg C and in a simulated fuel solution at 100 deg C are reported. The radiation corrosion of Zircaloy-2 specimens in fuel solutions was investigated. Corrosion rates for two chemically polished crystal-bar zirconium core-annulus coupons were observed to be greater than for Zircaloy-2. Three chemically polished Zr--lCr core-channel coupons corroded at about the same rates as Zircaloy-2. Specimens of Zr-15Nb, Sr-15Nb-2Mo, and Zr-Nb-1 Cu in beta -quenched condition showed better corrosion resistance than Zircaloy2, Slurry Fuels. The effect of pH level on the lamimarflow properties of flocculated ThO/sub 2/ suspensions was determined. Sedimentation particle-size analyses of two sets of ThO/sub 2/ powders fired at 650, 800, 900, and 1500 deg C and irradiated to 7 and 6 x 10/sup 20/ nvt showed decreases in the

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-26
• NSA Number: NSA-15-002374
• OSTI ID: 4127741
• Report Number(s): ORNL-3004
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Orig. Receipt Date: 31-DEC-61
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
ACIDITY
ALUMINUM
BEARINGS
BLANKETS
CATALYSIS
CHROMIUM ALLOYS
CLEANING
COMPLEXES
CONFIGURATION
COPPER ALLOYS
COPPER OXIDES
CORROSION
CRITICALITY
CYLINDERS
FABRICATION
FAILURES
FERTILE MATERIALS
FLUID FLOW
FUEL ELEMENTS
FUEL SOLUTIONS
GASES
GRAIN SIZE
HEAT TRANSFER
HEAT TREATMENTS
HEAVY WATER
HOMOGENEOUS REACTORS
HRT
IN PILE LOOPS
INSPECTION
IRRADIATION
LABORATORY EQUIPMENT
LIQUID FLOW
MAINTENANCE
MATERIALS TESTING
MEASURED VALUES
MECHANICAL STRUCTURES
METALLOGRAPHY
MOCKUP
MOLYBDENUM ALLOYS
NEUTRONS
NICKEL OXIDES
NIOBIUM ALLOYS
NITRIC ACID
OPERATION
PALLADIUM
PELLETS
PERFORMANCE
PHASE DIAGRAMS
PLA