Accelerated testing in HFIR using miniature fuel samples

摘要

Qualification of new nuclear fuels is necessary for a robust nuclear industry, and getting those new fuels into power reactors as quickly as possible will maximize their potential benefits. MiniFuel is an irradiation vehicle developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to maximize the testing potential of the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR). The compact experiment contains a miniature target that holds pinhead-size fuel kernels, about one-thousandth the size of conventional fuel test pellets. In addition to accelerating burnup, MiniFuel's small size allows for the simultaneous testing of numerous fuel samples with different variables, enabling researchers to isolate conditions, test specific phenomena, and acquire performance data faster.