Cracking in first ramp to power of standard versus high thermal conductivity UO2 pellets via internal nuclear heating
Advanced fuel designs that incorporate thinner fuel UO2 pellets interspaced by high thermal conductivity inserts have been proposed, with the primary goals of reducing peak centerline temperatures and temperature gradients across fuel pellets and enhancing heat transfer from the fuel to the coolant. An initial series of experiments has been performed on this design, including […]
Coupled Thermal-Hydraulic and Fuel Performance Simulations of the TWIST LOCA Commissioning Test Series in TREAT
As the nuclear industry is looking to increase light water reactor (LWR) burnup limits, Idaho National Laboratory has developed an experiment vehicle for the Transient Reactor Test Facility (TREAT) to support high burnup fuel safety testing. One of the main purposes of this vehicle, known as the Transient Water Irradiation System for TREAT (TWIST), is […]
Mechanical Behavior Assessment of Ti-6Al-4V ELI Alloy Produced by Laser Powder Bed Fusion
The present work correlates the quasi-static, tensile mechanical properties of additively manufactured Ti-6Al-4V extra low interstitial (ELI, Grade 23) alloy to the phase constituents, microstructure, and fracture surface characteristics that changed with post-heat treatment of stress relief (670 °C for 5 h) and hot isostatic pressing (HIP with 100 MPa at 920 °C for 2 […]
Irradiations for Advanced Reactors
The presentation is for a public seminar explaining test reactor capabilities for testing advanced reactor fuels and materials
Dry In-Pile Fracture Test (DRIFT) for Separate-Effects Validation of Ceramic Fuel Fracture Models
Fracture is an important component of nuclear fuel behavior, and significant efforts have been invested into developing fuel performance models that are capable of accurately representing fracture. Usable data on the process of fracture propagation in nuclear fuel under realistic service conditions are very limited. To address this need, a series of separate-effects experiments were […]