AFIP-7 Post-irradiation Examination Summary Report
The following report contains the results and conclusions from post irradiation examinations performed on the fuel plates irradiated as part of the AFIP-7 experiment, the first test of base monolithic fuel in a fuel assembly consisting of curved, constrained fuel plates. These examinations include visual examination; eddy-current testing to measure oxide growth; profilometry to measure […]
Phase transformations and thermal expansion coefficients of unirradiated U-X wt.% Zr (X = 6, 10, 20, 30) measured via neutron diffraction
This work characterizes the crystallographic evolution of unirradiated U-X wt.% Zr (X = 6, 10, 20, 30) while cooling from equilibration, single phase ?-U-Zr, at 900 °C to ambient temperature using time-of-flight neutron diffraction. The ß-U phase was unobserved during cooling at 1 °C/min in all alloys. All alloys followed the phase transformation pathway of […]
INL Analysis and Recommendations to Framatome FMEA and PIRT for UZr2 Fuel
A fuel design being proposed by Framatome includes an annular fuel rod that consists of a 50 wt.% Zr uranium-zirconium (U-50Zr) alloy enriched to less than 20% U235 with an external zircaloy cladding while maintaining other aspects of the typical LWR fuel rod design. The rods are in a rectangular array supported and positioned by […]