No abstract

The Experimental Pmer Breeder Reactor', Em-11, i s a heterogeneous, unmoderat ed, sodim-cooled reactor t o provide engineering m d operational information a2plicable t o Rzll scale cen-kral-st,ation nuclear power plants. The enricheg uranium-fissium alloy fuel i s blanketed with depleted unzlloJre3 urslniuin i n type 304 stainless steel tubes.t h e r e l a t i v e location of f u e l m d blanket components.center temperature f o r blarket slugs adjacent t o t h e f' ?Je!-i s 6 0 0 "~ and t h e surface -C,emperaku-e i s 520°C.annulus between t h e uranim! and t h e tube wall.via t h e sodium, no voids, mbonde5, or non-wetted areas grezter than 1/16" i n any direction can be tolerated. tained t o insure complete coverage of t h e uranium i n t h e event t h a t radi6tlon damage t o t h e slug material should cause dimensional changes with a resultant length increase and t o allow space f o r t h e expansion of t h e sodium and .;he collect i o n of released f i s s i o n gases. ~J O different types of blanket rods were produced a s described in Table I and sho-m in Figures 2 and 3.An elevation t h r o a t h e reactor core, Figure 1, showsThe m~xmum calculated Soilium m t a 1 i s u t i l i z e d as a heat t r a n s f e r m e d i u m i n t h eTo insure adequate heat t r a n s f e r An exacting sodium f i l l height must also be mainAll loading operations were perfomed i n an atmosphere of 90 v/o argon-10 v/o helium, which was a l s o t h e atmosphere surrounding t h e compression spring above t h e sodium et t h e t o p of each rod. The work was performed i n a glove box, shown. i n Figure 4, which was designed t o permit four operators working simulteneously t o extrude t h e necessary sodium, load, and cap 21.6 rods per day.fabricated with an extruded and welded aluminum angle frame, safety glass windows

The Argonne Low Power Reactor (ALPR) is fueled currently with thin, plate-type elements containing a wrought, aluminum-base core alloy, with a nominal composition of 17.5 w/o fully enriched uranium, 2.0 w/o nickel, and 0.5 w/o iron, clad with an aluminum-nickel alloy. Fuel elements were fabricated by a picture-franne technique, employing elemental silicon bonding. Following this operation the compacts were hot and cold rolled to final size. This report describes the manufacture of 1150 fuel core blanks, of which 816 were used in the fabrication of fuel eleraents. Development, casting, hot and cold rolling, cleaning, and punching of core blanks are discussei, as are nondestructive testing and evaluation of the manufacturing processes.