A Revised Capsule Design for the Accelerated Testing of Advanced Reactor Fuels

Beausoleil, Geoffrey; Povirk, G.; Curnutt, Bryon

doi:10.1080/00295450.2019.1631052

Cited by 9 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 11 publications

(11 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In addition, techniques used for fast reactor fuel to mitigate self-shielding effects in thermal reactors, such as cadmium shrouds in the ATR, are no longer necessary as the reduced size provides a comparable power distribution throughout the fuel. 9,79 The FAST experiment also utilizes a series of concentric capsules that provide highly reliable, tunable experiment conditions for both semiprototypic irradiation conditions as well as nonprototypic irradiation conditions, such as elevated temperature steadystate tests. This enables researchers a relatively high turnaround as well as a more extensive data set for the validation of fuel performance models.…”

Section: Ivb Inl: Fastmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The accelerated qualification process proposed here is predicated on irradiation developments at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) that enable a high-throughput approach to irradiation testing that can also reach high-burnup targets at much faster rates than traditional testing. [8][9][10][11][12] The approaches are not entirely novel and have been demonstrated in historical experiments and other isolated efforts. 13,14 The difference now is that the value proposition for performing accelerated…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Integrating Advanced Modeling and Accelerated Testing for a Modernized Fuel Qualification Paradigm

et al. 2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

With the increasing interest in sodium fast reactor technology, as seen by applications to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for the OKLO Aurora plant, fuel testing for the TerraPower Traveling Wave Reactor, and the impending construction and startup of the versatile test reactor (VTR), a modernized, accelerated approach to fuel qualification is needed. To guide this effort, a Phenomena Identification Ranking Table-styled analysis was performed for a U-Pu-Zr sodium-free annular fuel system. This analysis evaluated a series of fuel design properties and parameters against their contributions to key fuel performance phenomena. The resulting priority parameters were then reviewed against existing modeling and experimental capabilities to support investigation of the highest-priority parameters. A pathway for qualification was then established using highthroughput, high-volume experiments from MiniFuel and FAST in parallel with advanced physics-based model development. This effort outlines how the first stages of qualification can be reduced from the typical 20+-year development cycle to 5 to 7 years by deploying accelerated irradiation testing platforms. As with any accelerated test, these methods are prototypic in some aspects and less so in others; however, by coupling with advanced fuel performance modeling and simulation capabilities, the larger space of irradiation parameters and material response provided offers advantages for the validation of physics-based models supporting the deployment of novel fuel designs. As a test case, this paper utilizes a proposed Mark II fuel system for the upcoming VTR. Thus, an accelerated qualification method can be tested for the development of MARK II driver fuel so that by the time of VTR startup, lead test assemblies for a Mark II fuel can be initiated.

show abstract

Section: Ivb Inl: Fastmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrating Advanced Modeling and Accelerated Testing for a Modernized Fuel Qualification Paradigm

et al. 2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Furnace testing of irradiated metallic fuel is planned by Advanced Fuel Campaign to provide time-to-failure data that will be helpful in the benchmarking of fuel performance models and in assessing the performance of new fuel designs relative to more standard fast reactor fuel systems [24].…”

Section: Atr Experiments Design Calculationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Irradiation testing of slotted metallic fuel has been proposed by the Advanced Fuel Campaign (AFC) in order to develop high burnup fuel designs [24]. This advanced fuel design envisions pre-fabricated fuel slots designed to accommodate fuel swelling.…”

Section: Use Of Bison For Modeling Deformation Of Slotted Metallic Fuelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Summary and Assessment of Metal Fuel Capabilities in Bison

Novascone

Casagranda

Matthews

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The work described in this report was performed under funding from the Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) program. This report is issued in satisfaction of the level 2 milestone M2MS-18IN0201012 on Release Bison with Initial Metallic Fuel Performance Capability. Metallic fuel development began in Bison a few years after light water reactor development began (∼ 2009). The initial development was funded by the Advanced Fuels Campaign. With recent interest from industry, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the Versatile Test Reactor program, the Nuclear Energy Modeling Simulation Program has increased funding for metallic fuel development and validation in FY18. The material models with the most mature development are binary uranium-zirconium and ternary uranium-plutonium-zirconium alloys for fuel and HT9 for cladding. The first material models were incorporated from open literature sources, which include mechanical and thermal material properties that are functions of temperature, porosity, and zirconium concentration, swelling, fission gas release, zirconium diffusion, creep, and sodium coolant channel boundary conditions. These material models have been utilized to simulate ERB-II fuel pins and the results compared to measurements. The EBR-II experiment measurements mostly consist of cladding strain and zirconium redistribution. As such, comparisons to EBR-II measurements are currently limited to these two figures of merit. Simulations and comparisons to experiment measurements have also been done for transient testing of EBR-II fuel pins in TREAT, which included temperature measurements. Preliminary comparisons between Bison calculations and experiment measurements are favorable. These comparisons have also highlighted the importance of the fuel swelling and fission gas release models on cladding strain. Also, Bison metallic fuel simulations are currently being run in support of ATR experiments and VTR exploratory design calculations. Further development and evaluation of individual material models and fuel system models are planned for FY19.

show abstract

“…Naturally, this implies that each experiment conducted would consist of a unique and specific combination of dimensions, materials, incident neutron flux, and heat loads. Each experiment's characteristics are typically chosen using a set of computational studies prior to irradiation to ensure appropriate experiments are carried out safely [5,6]. This procedure implies multidecade development cycles to iterate through the variations of a material (fuel, clad, structural support, etc.)…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

NMDQi Thermal-hydraulic Optimization, Analysis, and Scoping Tool (TOAST)

Weiss

Beausoleil

Fradeneck

2020

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Thermal-hydraulic Optimization, Analysis, and Scoping Tool (TOAST) is developed to support the thermal-hydraulic aspects for the design of optimal irradiation vehicles for the Nuclear Materials Discovery and Qualification initiative (NMDQi). TOAST is currently a MATLAB-based tool that utilizes a simplified steady-state analytical model where a radial thermal resistance circuit is utilized to account for conduction through up to 2 capsules, a gas gap, a thermal bond, a sample cladding, and a sample, as well as the convection from a water coolant outside the capsules. The geometry is discretized axially along the user-defined height of a basket with a user-defined number of points/nodes, essentially turning TOAST into a semi-2D heat transfer analysis utility for cylindrical irradiation vehicles with practically any configuration, solving for temperatures radially at multiple axial locations. TOAST utilizes a Graphical User Interface (GUI) in-which a user can define the geometrical layout, the materials utilized for each component, the coolant characteristics, and the required solution. The user can define the geometry by inputting the diameters, thicknesses, and heights for each component, whereas the materials are defined via the user-provided constant or variable thermal conductivities. The user can select the coolant's inlet temperature, pressure, and the pressure drop across the height of the problem (which is used to calculate the velocity of the flow). Finally, the user can choose to solve for a sample heat generation rate limit by inputting temperature limits for the sample and capsules or can choose to purely solve for the axial temperature distributions of each component by inputting a pre-selected heat generation rate. Either way, TOAST provides the user with axial temperature distributions of all the components including the coolant, and the heat generation rate limit as well as the maximum outlet coolant temperature. The user can also choose to do one of 6 sensitivity analyses in TOAST. The sensitivity analyses yield plots of the sensitivity of the heat generation rate limit, the maximum coolant temperature, and the pressure limit for the annular components due to perturbations in 1-2 unknown variables based on the selected sensitivity analysis. Benchmarks between computations in TOAST and equivalent 2D axis symmetric ABAQUS models are presented, showing that TOAST results are within less than 3% of ABAQUS results in most cases, and a maximum of 8% difference in some cases. The benchmarks also revealed that this uncertainty is tied to the selection of an appropriate Nusselt number correlation and appropriate thermal conductivities, which the user can do from the GUI. Regardless, TOAST is demonstrated as a computationally efficient, highly accessible, and accurate utility for optimization and scoping s of studies different irradiation vehicles.

show abstract

A Revised Capsule Design for the Accelerated Testing of Advanced Reactor Fuels

Cited by 9 publications

References 11 publications

Integrating Advanced Modeling and Accelerated Testing for a Modernized Fuel Qualification Paradigm

Integrating Advanced Modeling and Accelerated Testing for a Modernized Fuel Qualification Paradigm

Summary and Assessment of Metal Fuel Capabilities in Bison

NMDQi Thermal-hydraulic Optimization, Analysis, and Scoping Tool (TOAST)

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About