Fuel Plate Failure Experiments and Analyses in Irradiated U-10Mo Alloy

摘要

The Materials Management and Minimization (M3) Program intends to qualify a new high-density low-enriched-uranium (LEU) U--Mo monolithic fuel to enable conversion of five US high-performance research reactors (USHPRRs). This thesis presents the preliminary results and discussions related to post-irradiation blister anneal studies and fission product release scoping studies performed on U--Mo monolithic fuel plates.;Blister anneal testing on irradiated fuel plates is a temperature-resolved failure-threshold measurement technique historically used to assess fuel plate stability under off-normal operating conditions. The effects of fuel composition, geometry, fission density, and irradiation conditions are presented herein as parameters that were investigated for their impact on blister-threshold temperatures. The fission-product-transport scoping study successfully characterized the release, transport and temperature-resolved deposition behavior of iodine and cesium. Two failure temperatures were evaluated: 600 and 1250°C. Testing was performed in the main hot cell at the Materials and Fuels Complex located at Idaho National Laboratory.