Experimental studies on eutectic formation between metallic fuel and HT-9M cladding in a single-pin core structure of a sodium-cooled fast reactor

Taeil Kim, Jeffrey Fortner, Dzmitry Harbaruk, Craig Gerardi, Mitchell Farmer, Yoon Il Chang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Metallic fuel relocation experiments were conducted in which molten uranium was dropped into the cladding of a single fuel pin where eutectic interaction between fuel and cladding led to the release of eutectic fuel mixture into a narrow sodium channel. The thermal hydraulic relocation behavior of the molten uranium was analyzed in a previous study. Here, the extent of the eutectic formation was evaluated by scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive spectroscopy (SEM/EDS). The SEM/EDS analysis confirmed that cladding failure was caused by eutectic penetration. The eutectic penetration initiated around the boundary between cladding and uranium fuel, progressed into the cladding, and caused the cladding failure. Near the cladding failure region, the original cladding shape was unrecognizable, and many cracks, breakthroughs, and partial losses of the cladding were observed. The main components of the cladding failure region were UFe2 and U6Fe, which are the key components in the eutectic penetration.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)105-118
Number of pages14
JournalJournal of Nuclear Materials
Volume505
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2018
Externally publishedYes

Funding

The authors are grateful for MUSE facility design support from Stanley Wiedmeyer, Dennis Kilsdonk, and Arthur E. Wright at Argonne. Authors would like to acknowledge discussions of SFR accident analysis with Dr. Adrian M. Tentner at Argonne and Dr. Seok Hun Kang at KAERI. Authors would like to thank Christopher Rojas, Claudia Gallagher, Angel Garcia, Tony Neiggemann, and Shandra Keas at Argonne for assistance with radiological safety. Authors would like to thank Dr. Sang Ji Kim at KAERI with guidance on the project. This work was performed under the Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) No. 1501601 supported by KAERI . The submitted manuscript has been created by UChicago Argonne, LLC, Operator of Argonne National Laboratory (“Argonne”). Argonne, a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science laboratory , is operated under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357 . The U.S. Government retains for itself, and others acting on its behalf, a paid-up nonexclusive, irrevocable worldwide license in said article to reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute copies to the public, and perform publicly and display publicly, by or on behalf of the Government.

Keywords

  • Eutectic penetration
  • Fragmentation
  • HCDA
  • HT-9M cladding
  • Metal fuel
  • SFR

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