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Study mapping U-10Zr porosity informs metallic fuel design
Researchers at Idaho National Laboratory and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have conducted a three-dimensional study of irradiated U-10Zr—uranium alloyed with 10 percent zirconium—across key radial regions, providing new insights into how the material swells, transfers heat, and interacts with the fuel cladding.
U-10Zr was extensively tested in historical sodium-cooled fast reactors and is now attracting attention for use in next-generation advanced reactors.
Adrian S. Sabau, Evan K. Ohriner, Jim Kiggans, Charles R. Schaich, Yoshio Ueda, David C. Harper, Yutai Katoh, Lance L. Snead
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 66 | Number 3 | November 2014 | Pages 394-404
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST14-809
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Testing of advanced materials and component mock-ups under prototypical fusion high-heat-flux conditions, while historically a mainstay of fusion research, has proved challenging, especially for irradiated materials. A new high-heat-flux–testing (HHFT) facility based on water-wall plasma arc lamps (PALs) is now introduced for materials and small-component testing. Two PAL systems, utilizing a 12 000°C plasma arc contained in a quartz tube cooled by a spiral water flow over the inside tube surface, provide maximum incident heat fluxes of 4.2 and 27 MW/m2 over areas of 9×12 and 1×10 cm2, respectively. This paper will present the overall design and implementation of a PAL-based irradiated material target station (IMTS). The IMTS is primarily designed for testing the effects of heat flux or thermal cycling on material coupons of interest, such as those for plasma-facing components. Temperature results are shown for thermal cycling under HHFT of tungsten coupon specimens that were neutron irradiated in HFIR. Radiological surveys indicated minimal contamination of the 36-× 36-× 18-cm test section, demonstrating the capability of the new facility to handle irradiated specimens at high temperature.