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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.
V. F. Baston, K. J. Hofstetter, Richard F. Karuhn
Nuclear Technology | Volume 83 | Number 2 | November 1988 | Pages 216-227
Technical Paper | Material | doi.org/10.13182/NT88-A34164
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Defueling operations at Three Mile Island Unit 2 involve underwater plasma arc cutting of reactor vessel stainless steel components. Sampling and analysis of released off-gases and aerosols during steady-state plasma arc cutting tests established a conversion fraction of nitrogen-to-nitrogen oxides, off-gas composition, and aerosol concentrations for engineering evaluations of potential health and safety and corrosion issues. The sample results indicate that (a) <1 vol% of nitrogen is converted to nitrogen oxides, (b) the airborne particulate concentrations for the major steel components (chromium, iron, nickel, etc.) could exceed the threshold limit values without off-gas capability, (c) the volume percent hydrogen could exceed its lower flammability limit without off-gas capability, and (d) there is low corrosion potential for off-gas system components for the given torch operations.