IRRADIATION PERFORMANCE OF U-Mo MONOLITHIC FUEL

Meyer, M. K.; Gan, Jian; Jue, Jan‐Fong; Keiser, Dennis D.; Perez, E.; Robinson, Adam; Wachs, D. M.; Woolstenhulme, Nicolas E.; Hofman, G.L.; Kim, Y.S.

doi:10.5516/net.07.2014.706

Cited by 145 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…The development of high-density LEU monolithic U-Mo fuels has been the most promising thus far. As opposed to dispersion fuels, which are comprised of atomized U-Mo particles embedded in a matrix, monolithic fuels consist of a single foil of the U-Mo alloy encapsulated by a cladding layer [10]. Fig.…”

Section: Contents Lists Available At Sciencedirectmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Monolithic U-Mo fuels are projected to enable conversion of all remaining HEU fueled research reactors in the world today to LEU fuel [2]. For full qualification, a fuel must exhibit mechanical integrity, geometric stability, and stable and predictable swelling during irradiation to prevent coolant flow blockages and/or release of fission products [10]. The primary contributions to fuel swelling are reactions of the fuel with the aluminum cladding matrix, the formation of solid fission products, and fission gas bubble nucleation and growth.…”

Section: Contents Lists Available At Sciencedirectmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Accordingly, many research reactor fuels are designed to reduce fuel temperatures by utilizing assemblies of long thin-plates. Low-enriched monolithic uranium-molybdenum (UMo) plate type fuel development is an important non-proliferation objective that could result in a reduction of several hundred kilograms of weapons grade fuel every year [10]. One of the major factors preventing the qualification of monolithic U-Mo fuels is the buildup of gaseous fission products in the fuel meat.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Fission gas bubble identification using MATLAB's image processing toolbox

Collette

King

Keiser

et al. 2016

Materials Characterization

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Automated image processing routines have the potential to aid in the fuel performance evaluation process by eliminating bias in human judgment that may vary from person-to-person or sample-to-sample. This study presents several MATLAB based image analysis routines designed for fission gas void identification in postirradiation examination of uranium molybdenum (U-Mo) monolithic-type plate fuels. Frequency domain filtration, enlisted as a pre-processing technique, can eliminate artifacts from the image without compromising the critical features of interest. This process is coupled with a bilateral filter, an edge-preserving noise removal technique aimed at preparing the image for optimal segmentation. Adaptive thresholding proved to be the most consistent gray-level feature segmentation technique for U-Mo fuel microstructures. The Sauvola adaptive threshold technique segments the image based on histogram weighting factors in stable contrast regions and local statistics in variable contrast regions. Once all processing is complete, the algorithm outputs the total fission gas void count, the mean void size, and the average porosity. The final results demonstrate an ability to extract fission gas void morphological data faster, more consistently, and at least as accurately as manual segmentation methods.

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Section: Contents Lists Available At Sciencedirectmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Contents Lists Available At Sciencedirectmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Fission gas bubble identification using MATLAB's image processing toolbox

Collette

King

Keiser

et al. 2016

Materials Characterization

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“…The USA, the main driving force behind the conversion requirements and an important supplier of HEU, led the efforts with a number of coping studies to identify appropriate fuel candidates [3]. This involved the irradiation of a number of high-density uranium compounds from which the UMo alloys with a Mo content of 7-10 w% were chosen as the best candidates [4]. The selection was based on good irradiation behavior, sufficiently high intrinsic density (~16gU/cc) and availability of historic irradiation data from research reactors.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neutronics Analysis on Mini Test Fuel in the RSG-Gas Core

Surbakti

Sembiring

2016

Tri Dasa Mega

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NEUTRONICS ANALYSIS ON MINI TEST FUEL IN THE RSG-GAS CORE.Research on UMo fuel for research reactor has been developed. The fuel of research reactor is uranium molybdenum low enrichment with high density. For supporting the development of fuel fabrication, an neutronic analysis of mini fuel plates in the RSG-GAS core was performed. The aim of analysis is to determine the numbers of fuel cycles in the core to know the maximum fuel burn-up. The mini fuel plates of U7Mo-Al and U6Zr-Al with densities of 7.0 gU/cc and 5.2 gU/cc, respectively, will be irradiated in the RSG-GAS core. The size of both fuels, namely 630x70.75x1.30 mm were inserted to the 3 plates of dummy fuel. Before the fuel will be irradiated in the core, a calculation for safety analysis from neutronics and thermal-hydraulics aspects were required. However, in this paper, it will be discussed safety analysis of the U7Mo-Al and U6Zr-Al mini fuels from neutronic point of view. The calculation was done using WIMSD-5B and Batan-3DIFF codes. The result showed that both of the mini fuels could be irradiated in the RSG-GAS core with burn up less than 70 % within 12 cycles of operation without over limiting the safety margin. If it is compared, the power density of U7Mo-Al mini fuel is bigger than U6Zr-Al fuel.Key words: mini fuel, neutronics analysis, reactor core, safety analysis ABSTRAK ANALISIS NEUTRONIK ELEMEN BAKAR UJI MINI DI TERAS RSG-GAS. Penelitian tentang bahan bakar UMo untuk reaktor riset terus berkembang saat ini. Bahan bakar reaktor riset yang digunakan adalah uranium pengkayaan rendah namun densitas tinggi. Untuk mendukung pengembangan bahan bakar dilakukan uji elemen bakar mini di teras reaktor RSG-GAS dengan tujuan menentukan jumlah siklus di dalam teras sehingga tercapai fraksi bakar maksimum. Bahan bakar yang diuji adalah

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“…14,15 The metallic fuel selected to replace the current HEU fuels is the LEU-10wt.% Mo alloy in the form of a thin sheet or foil encapsulated in AA6061 aluminum alloy with a zirconium interlayer. 12,16 The U-10Mo monolithic fuel can achieve the desired higher uranium density (15.6 g/cm 3 ). In order to effectively lead this investigation, new developments in processing and fabrication of the fuel elements have been initiated, along with a better understanding of material behavior before and after irradiation as a result of these new developments.…”

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confidence: 99%

U-Mo Monolithic Fuel for Nuclear Research and Test Reactors

Prabhakaran

2017

JOM

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Research and test reactors consist of a wide range of civil and commercial nuclear reactors that are generally not used for power generation. The primary purpose of these reactors is to provide a neutron source for research and development purposes. These reactors are used for a number of applications, such as testing and analysis of materials, industrial processing and production of radioisotopes. In addition to the nuclear field, these reactors are also used in other areas, such as physics, chemistry, biology, geology, archeology, environmental science, and medicine. 1,2 As Research and test reactors are smaller in size and operate at lower temperature (typical coolant temperature is below 100°C) when compared to power reactors, but the operating conditions are more rigorous. The peak power density is about 5 kW/cc for a typical power reactor, whereas it could be about 17 kW/cc (in the fuel meat) for a typical research and test reactor. The burn-up is also very high in a research and test reactor. In a power reactor, burn-up is limited to less the 10% of the heavy metal while many research reactors will see complete depletion of heavy metal in peak locations. 4 The power of a typical power reactor is about 3000 MWt (sufficient to power about 200,000 households in the peak summer), whereas it is only in the range of 0.10 W (sufficient to power a night lamp) and 20 MWt (sufficient to power about 20 standard medical x-ray machines) for a typical research and test reactor. 2 These reactors are also covered by IAEA safety inspections and safeguards, similar to power reactors. These reactors employ a wider range of designs when compared to power reactors. 5 About 80% of the world's power plants are classified into two basic types (pressurized water reactors and boiling water reactors). 3 The first research and test reactors built around the 1940s which employed LEU (low enriched uranium: < 20 wt.% U-235) fuel were low-powered reactors, used mainly for studying reactor physics and reactor technology. However, due to the increased use of these reactors for a number of applications, the demand for higher specific power and the need to use greater U-235 concentrations increased, thus leading to the use of HEU (high enriched uranium: > 20 wt.% U-235; typically, 90% enriched) fuel, instead of LEU fuel. 4 The Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors (RERTR) Program was initiated by the United States Department of Energy in August 1978, in response to the increased concern about the potential diversion of HEU for use in nuclear weapons. 4,6 Since the 1980s, the United States policy has encouraged the use of LEU fuels for all new research and test reactor designs worldwide, and also for the conversion of the existing reactors from the HEU to LEU fuel. 7 The RERTR program (now called the Reactor Conversion Program under the National Nuclear Security Administration's Office of Material Management and Minimization) identified 106 research and test reactors in the United States and overseas for conversion to LEU fuel. 8...

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IRRADIATION PERFORMANCE OF U-Mo MONOLITHIC FUEL

Cited by 145 publications

References 42 publications

Fission gas bubble identification using MATLAB's image processing toolbox

Fission gas bubble identification using MATLAB's image processing toolbox

Neutronics Analysis on Mini Test Fuel in the RSG-Gas Core

U-Mo Monolithic Fuel for Nuclear Research and Test Reactors

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