Fuel Accident Condition Simulator (FACS) Furnace for Post-Irradiation Heating Tests of VHTR Fuel Compacts

Conference · Fri Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 2010

OSTI ID:993187

Demkowicz, Paul A; Demkowicz, Paul; Laug, David V

Abstract –Fuel irradiation testing and post-irradiation examination are currently in progress as part of the Next Generation Nuclear Plant Fuels Development and Qualification Program. The PIE campaign will include extensive accident testing of irradiated very high temperature reactor fuel compacts to verify fission product retention characteristics at high temperatures. This work will be carried out at both the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, beginning with accident tests on irradiated fuel from the AGR-1 experiment in 2010. A new furnace system has been designed, built, and tested at INL to perform high temperature accident tests. The Fuel Accident Condition Simulator furnace system is designed to heat fuel specimens at temperatures up to 2000°C in helium while monitoring the release of volatile fission metals (e.g. Cs, Ag, Sr, Eu, and I) and fission gases (Kr, Xe). Fission gases released from the fuel to the sweep gas are monitored in real time using dual cryogenic traps fitted with high purity germanium detectors. Condensable fission products are collected on a plate attached to a water-cooled cold finger that can be exchanged periodically without interrupting the test. Analysis of fission products on the condensation plates involves dry gamma counting followed by chemical analysis of selected isotopes. This paper will describe design and operational details of the Fuel Accident Condition Simulator (FACS) furnace system, as well as preliminary system calibration results.

• Research Organization: Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE - NE
• DOE Contract Number: DE-AC07-05ID14517
• OSTI ID: 993187
• Report Number(s): INL/CON-10-18051; TRN: US1007988
• Resource Relation: Conference: 5th International Conference on High Temperature Reactor Technology (HTR 2010),Prague, Czech Rebublic,10/18/2010,10/20/2010
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
CALIBRATION
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
CRYOGENICS
FISSION
FISSION PRODUCTS
FURNACES
GASES
GE SEMICONDUCTOR DETECTORS
HEATING
HELIUM
IRRADIATION
MONITORING
NUCLEAR FUELS
POST-IRRADIATION EXAMINATION
REACTOR TECHNOLOGY
RETENTION
SIMULATORS
SPENT FUELS
TESTING
AGR
coated particle fuel
FACS
post-irradiation examination
TRISO
VHTR