Evaluation of Testing Facilities for a High Temperature Fission Chamber Design

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) developed a first-of-its-kind high-temperature fission chamber (HTFC) prototype that could survive in the harsher environments of advanced reactors with high flux fields up to 10¹³ n/cm²-s and temperatures upwards of 700°C. The first prototype of the HTFC was demonstrated at the Ohio State University Research Reactor (OSURR) in October 2017. The experiment at the OSURR was designed to demonstrate four regions of operation: low flux and low temperatures, low flux and high temperatures, high flux and low temperatures, and high flux and high temperatures. Although some problems developed during the experiment at the OSURR, data was obtained and the fission chamber was shipped back to ORNL. The problems were diagnosed and documented at ORNL, and the HTFC was reassembled. Testing will proceed at ORNL at temperatures up to 700°C. This report discusses other possible test facilities to demonstrate the HTFC instrument prototype after reassembly.