Nuclear experimental instrumentation frequently includes the usage of thin-walled (metallic sheathed) thermocouples passing through the boundaries of pressure vessels. This is accomplished by sealing the thermocouples by brazing through special design fittings (passages) which are later sealed / welded to the body of the vessel.Two are the challenges to face : (a) the manufacture of the instrumented passage (b) its mandatory qualification, according to relevant standards. Even the brazing qualification standards are more flexible than for welding, the peculiar situation of nuclear instrumentation still needs special consideration and it is not properly covered by the regular standards.The paper describes the experience of the authors in manufacture of the instrumented passages with steel or Inconel sheathed thermocouples, along with some other known projects, in conjunction with applicability of relevant standards: ASME code, AWS standards, national standards. Since it is about pressure vessels, ASME prescriptions are mandatory in Romania; other standards may serve as valuable sources for the “engineering judgment” allowed and recommended by ASME code.The main problem in such specialty brazing qualification is that for some combinations of base metals and filler (imposed by application), one cannot avoid the significant fragilization due to a tremendous increase of hardness in the brazing area. Base material erosion is added and the effect is catastrophic : sectioning the thermocouples at the slightest movement. For example, brazing Inconel thin-walled tubes with BNi-7 is very hard to control – experimental data and images are included in the paper to illustrate this.Therefore, special means must be applied both in fabrication and in qualification, in order to ensure the product is functional and safe, even being fragile. This approach can be found in French design of irradiation devices, being also considered in the French code for design and construction of experimental reactors and irradiation devices. Being known that French experience in this field is vast, their approach makes us confident that our brazing technique is not wrong but the problem is to be solved through ‘smart’ design and specific procedures. Consequently a tentative set of domestic rules for work and qualification is proposed for discussion and further improvement.
The paper presents the assembling flux of thermocouple-instrumented nuclear fuel element for research reactor, from the point of view of the welding / brazing engineer, considering nuclear quality and safety requirements: fuel element structural reliability (no radioactive leaks through joints) and temperature signal reliability (thermocouple sheath integrity), this signal being an essential parameter for reactor normal operation and emergency shut-down. The paper is a real case study for an experimental instrumented element recently developed at INR-Pitesti describing technology choices as balance between fabrication complexity and risk of failure in joining processes, especially in later stages when added value increases. All joints (welded or brazed) fall into microjoining category, and it is shown how some special provisions may influence reliability. Focus is put on brazing thin-walled Inconel sheathed thermocouples, where erosion and local loss of ductility are known issues, leading to sheath rupture. Choosing as filler the less aggressive BNi-9 helped too little. A simple but efficient technique has been developed to address this matter adequate to narrow spaces inside a nuclear fuel element, where no room is available for solutions described in literature e.g. distal preplacing of filler. The solution prevents sheath from having prolonged contact with large volume of molten filler by using locally a miniature barrier (thin stainless-steel coil or sleeve) which only allows capillary wetting, being also a perfect real-time visual indicator of brazing progress and completion. As proved in the present paper, this method along with using filler formulation with lower Carbon content (without organic binder) enhances significantly, 8 times at least, resistance to bending fatigue. A particular vacuum brazing chamber design is employed: narrow quartz tube with external induction coil and top fitting letting outside the long thermocouples attached, reducing much the chamber volume and degassing. Careful impedance match is therefore required to overcome induction power loss due to the larger coil-to-workpiece gap. Additional joining problems are discussed e.g. inherent differential expansion of long parts during induction heating which afterwards may put tension upon braze during solidification and determine delayed cracking, this being avoided through wise order of operations. Another concern is the final precision weld between instrumentation segment having attached the hard-to-handle long thermocouples bunch and nuclear segment with the heavy Uranium pellets. The result of this research is successful assembling of first Romanian prototype with joints exhibiting He leak rate bellow 1E-09 std.cc/sec and overall reliability proved during reactor irradiation testing.
Sealing of nuclear fuel material inside the fuel element clad must create a leak-tight "safety barrier" to prevent the release of radioactive products to environment. High quality welds are mandatory to withstand harsh conditions (radiation, pressure, temperature, corrosion) making possible the safe operation of nuclear reactors. The joint design, material selection and welding technique must be combined by smartly balancing possible technological options to yield the best attainable quality for the intended purpose; these choices are discussed in the paper. For thin-walled clad to end-plug welding, heat flow pattern as determined by joint design and fitting accuracy proved to be crucial for the fusion boundary shape and moreover for the success rate in automate welding. Consequently, Finite Element Analysis of the transient thermal field during welding was performed, in order to determine the best compromise with reasonable machining precision for parts. The main features of the developed thermal model and some results illustrating its good predictions vs. actual welds are also presented. Helium-shielded pulsed welding was initially preferred to minimize HAZ, distortion and porosity but unfortunately important cast-to-cast variation in penetration was observed with Inconel-600 plugs, due to Marangoni effect. Extensive work was done to overcome this, mainly through variation of pulsing and of the shielding gas; depth-to-width ratio can be noticeably improved with no material addition. Out of welding classic cladding materials, studies were initiated at INR on joining oxide-dispersion strengthened (ODS) alloys and specialty austenitic formulations (e.g. 15/15Ti) since they are candidate materials of great interest for the next generation of nuclear reactors.
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