Fabrication of ORNL Fuel Irradiated in the Peach Bottom Reactor and Postirradiation Examination of Recycle Test Elements 7 and 4
Seven full-sized Peach Bottom Reactor. fuel elements were fabricated in a cooperative effort by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Gulf General Atomic (GGA) as part of the National HTGR Fuel Recycle Development Program. These elements contain bonded fuel rods and loose beds of particles made from several combinations of fertile and fissile particles of interest for present and future use in the High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (HTGR). The portion of the fuel prepared for these elements by ORNL is described in detail in this report, and it is in conjunction with the GGA report (GA-10109) a complete fabrication description of the test. In addition, this report describes the results obtained to date from postirradiation examination of the first two elements removed from the Peach Bottom Reactor, RTE-7 and -4. The fuel examined had relatively low exposure, up to about 1.5 x 10{sup 21} neutrons/cm* fast (>0.18 MeV) fluence, compared with the peak anticipated HTGR fluence of 8.0 x 10{sup 21}, but it has performed well at this exposure. Dimensional data indicate greater irradiation shrinkage than expected from accelerated test data to higher exposures. This suggests that either the method of extrapolation of the higher exposure data back to low exposure is faulty, or the behavior of the coated particles in the neutron spectrum characteristic of the accelerated tests does not adequately represent the behavior in an HTGR spectrum.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- US Department of Energy (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-00OR22725
- OSTI ID:
- 814124
- Report Number(s):
- ORNL/TM-4477; TRN: US0304161
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: This paper originally published September 1974; PBD: 25 Oct 2001
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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