Abstract
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is performing extensive destructive examinations (DEs) of 15 high burnup (HBU) spent nuclear fuel (SNF) rods from the North Anna Power Station (NAPS), which is operated by Dominion Energy. The examinations are being conducted to obtain a baseline of the HBU rods' condition prior to dry storage and are focused on understanding overall SNF rod strength and durability. The HBU rods, referred to as “sister rods,” are similar to rods placed into dry storage at NAPS that will be examined after a decade. Composite fuel and empty cladding will both be tested to derive material properties for the sister rods. While the data generated can be used for multiple purposes, a primary goal for obtaining the post-irradiation examination data and the associated measured mechanical properties is to support SNF dry storage licensing and relicensing activities by (1) addressing identified knowledge gaps and (2) enhancing the technical basis for post-storage transportation, handling, and consolidation activities. The planned DE includes full-length rod heat treatments simulating the peak dry storage cladding temperature, rod internal pressure and free volume measurements, fission gas analysis and release ratios, fuel burnup and isotopics, gas transmission testing, metallography, cladding total hydrogen measurements, four-point bend and axial tension tests, microhardness tests, and ring compression tests. The mechanical testing will be performed using fueled segments and is expected to complement previous and current mechanical test results using defueled cladding segments. This paper presents results obtained to date on eight rods for fission gas composition, rod internal pressure and free volume measurements, and gas transmission testing of selected specimens. The results of the heat-treated and the non-heat-treated specimens are compared.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages | 360-367 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| State | Published - 2020 |
| Event | 14th International Nuclear Fuel Cycle Conference, GLOBAL 2019 and Light Water Reactor Fuel Performance Conference, TOP FUEL 2019 - Seattle, United States Duration: Sep 22 2019 → Sep 27 2019 |
Conference
| Conference | 14th International Nuclear Fuel Cycle Conference, GLOBAL 2019 and Light Water Reactor Fuel Performance Conference, TOP FUEL 2019 |
|---|---|
| Country/Territory | United States |
| City | Seattle |
| Period | 09/22/19 → 09/27/19 |
Funding
This material is based upon work supported by the US Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy, under contract number DE-AC05-00OR22725. NOTICE OF COPYRIGHT: This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the US Department of Energy (DOE). The US government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for US government purposes. DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan).
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| US Department of Energy | |
| U.S. Department of Energy | |
| Office of Nuclear Energy | DE-AC05-00OR22725 |
