Design of Irradiation Tests for Monolithic Fuel Qualification

The US fuel development team is focused on developing and qualifying the uranium-molybdenum monolithic fuel. Several previous irradiations have demonstrated the favorable behavior of the monolithic fuel. The overall irradiation program strategy was recently revamped to provide an opportunity to test, examine, and select the most advantageous fabrication processes for producing monolithic fuel. Specimens fabricated by the selected processes are planned to be irradiated in a series of tests in order to populate the data set needed for fuel qualification through the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. This paper summarizes the overall irradiation testing plan with an emphasis on the rigorous approach to design, analysis, and requirements for qualification tests. The recently designed Full Size Plate 1 irradiation test is also summarized as an example of this strategic approach to qualifying monolithic fuel.