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MARVEL team shares lessons learned through microreactor development
On June 1 at the American Nuclear Society’s Annual Conference in Denver, Colo., a team from Idaho National Laboratory presented a session titled “Lessons Learned from MARVEL Reactor Fabrication.” The presentation highlighted challenges that arose as they moved from design to manufacturing and assembly, with a focus on reactor part fabrication, Stirling engine implementation, and reactivity control system development.
W. J. Mills, Bernard Mastel
Nuclear Technology | Volume 73 | Number 1 | April 1986 | Pages 102-108
Technical Paper | Material | doi.org/10.13182/NT86-A16206
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Fast neutron irradiation to total fluences ranging from 7.7 × 1021 to 5.7 × 1022 n/cm2 (3 to 16 dpa) resulted in a 65% increase in yield strength and a fourfold reduction in ductility. Intergranular fracture was the dominant failure mode for the irradiated material, whereas equal amounts of intergranular and trans-granular cracking were found in the unirradiated condition. This fracture mechanism transition resulted from intense heterogeneous deformation in a matrix strengthened by an irradiation-produced dislocation substructure. Planar slip bands impinged on the grain boundaries causing very high local stresses. Intergranular cracking resulted because the hardened matrix prevented relaxation of the stress concentrations.