TY - GEN
T1 - Preliminary Results from Post-Irradiation Heating Tests on Low- and High Temperature AGR-5/6/7 Fuel Compacts
AU - Stempien, John D.
AU - Cai, Lu
AU - Demkowicz, Paul A.
AU - Reber, Edward L.
AU - Walker, Kelley Verner
AU - Christensen, Cad
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© TopFuel 2025: Nuclear Reactor Fuel Performance.All rights reserved.
PY - 2025/10/5
Y1 - 2025/10/5
N2 - Four uranium oxycarbide (UCO) tristructural isotropic (TRISO) coated particle fuel compacts from the US Advanced Gas Reactor (AGR) Fuel Development and Qualification Program's final qualification campaign were subjected to post irradiation safety tests. The Fuel Accident Condition Simulator (FACS) furnace at Idaho National Laboratory was used to heat the fuel to 1600°C for 300 hours. Fission gases and condensable fission products released from the fuel during the tests were measured to assess the fuel performance. This assessment included preliminary determinations of the TRISO coating integrity and the retention or release of key fission products. These samples had burnups ranging from 9.2 to 15.2% fissions per initial metal atom (FIMA), along with time-average-volume-average (TAVA) irradiation temperatures of between 711 and 1361°C. For compacts with TAVA temperatures of less than 920°C, only small quantities of Cs were detected, indicating that no SiC layer had completely failed in any of the particles. The compact irradiated at 1361°C appears to have experienced one SiC failure at >200 hours at 1600°C. Releases of other key fission products were compared among the AGR-5/6/7 compacts tested here, as well as against other AGR fuel tested previously.
AB - Four uranium oxycarbide (UCO) tristructural isotropic (TRISO) coated particle fuel compacts from the US Advanced Gas Reactor (AGR) Fuel Development and Qualification Program's final qualification campaign were subjected to post irradiation safety tests. The Fuel Accident Condition Simulator (FACS) furnace at Idaho National Laboratory was used to heat the fuel to 1600°C for 300 hours. Fission gases and condensable fission products released from the fuel during the tests were measured to assess the fuel performance. This assessment included preliminary determinations of the TRISO coating integrity and the retention or release of key fission products. These samples had burnups ranging from 9.2 to 15.2% fissions per initial metal atom (FIMA), along with time-average-volume-average (TAVA) irradiation temperatures of between 711 and 1361°C. For compacts with TAVA temperatures of less than 920°C, only small quantities of Cs were detected, indicating that no SiC layer had completely failed in any of the particles. The compact irradiated at 1361°C appears to have experienced one SiC failure at >200 hours at 1600°C. Releases of other key fission products were compared among the AGR-5/6/7 compacts tested here, as well as against other AGR fuel tested previously.
KW - fission products
KW - post-irradiation examination
KW - safety tests
KW - TRISO
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105030540038
UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/924c729d-c1d3-331a-afbc-d4e7b7f722fe/
UR - https://www.ans.org/pubs/proceedings/article-59385/
U2 - 10.13182/TOPFUEL25-48096
DO - 10.13182/TOPFUEL25-48096
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:105030540038
SN - 9780894482281
T3 - Proceedings of the TopFuel 2025: Nuclear Reactor Fuel Performance Conference
SP - 135
EP - 144
BT - Proceedings of the TopFuel 2025: Nuclear Reactor Fuel Performance Conference
PB - American Nuclear Society
T2 - TopFuel 2025: Nuclear Reactor Fuel Performance Conference
Y2 - 5 October 2025 through 9 October 2025
ER -