Non destructive examination of UN / U-Si fuel pellets using neutrons (preliminary assessment)

Bourke, Mark Andrew¹  Vogel, Sven C.¹  Voit, Stewart Lancaster¹  Mcclellan, Kenneth James¹  Losko, Adrian S.¹  Tremsin, Anton¹ 

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

关键词: ACCIDENT-TOLERANT NUCLEAR FUELS;    FUEL PELLETS;    URANIUM SILICIDES;    NEUTRON DIFFRACTION;    URANIUM NITRIDES;    TOMOGRAPHY;    URANIUM 235;    ENRICHMENT;    CERAMICS;    DEFECTS;    RADIATION SCATTERING ANALYSIS accident tolerant fuel;   

DOI  :  10.2172/1245561
RP-ID  :  LA-UR--16-22179
PID  :  OSTI ID: 1245561
Others  :  TRN: US1601239

学科分类：核能源与工程

美国|英语

来源: SciTech Connect

【 摘 要 】

Tomographic imaging and diffraction measurements were performed on nine pellets; four UN/ U Si composite formulations (two enrichment levels), three pure U₃Si₅ reference formulations (two enrichment levels) and two reject pellets with visible flaws (to qualify the technique). The U-235 enrichments ranged from 0.2 to 8.8 wt.%. The nitride/silicide composites are candidate compositions for use as Accident Tolerant Fuel (ATF). The monophase U₃Si₅ material was included as a reference. Pellets from the same fabrication batches will be inserted in the Advanced Test Reactor at Idaho during 2016. The goal of the Advanced Non-destructive Fuel Examination work package is the development and application of non-destructive neutron imaging and scattering techniques to ceramic and metallic nuclear fuels. Data reported in this report were collected in the LANSCE run cycle that started in September 2015 and ended in March 2016. Data analysis is ongoing; thus, this report provides a preliminary review of the measurements and provides an overview of the characterized samples.