C reactor overbore fuel examination

摘要

On April 16, 1962, the fuel charge in overbore tube 3062-C sustained a failure, and upon examination after discharge was found to contain three split failures and three ''worm tracked'' elements (depression in the aluminum cladding apparently the result of uranium cleavage and subsequent yielding of the cladding). These failures occurred approximately ten days following a period of reactor neutron flux cycling, and during a second cycle at C Reactor. In addition to the failures, a total of 17 elements, from nine separate fuel charges, contained worm tracks. Four of these elements were sent to Radiometallurgy Laboratory for destructive examination, to determine the mechanism of the suspected uranium cleavage.