An approach to fuel development and qualification

Crawford, Douglas C.; Porter, David; Hayes, S. L.; Meyer, M. K.; Petti, David A.; Pasamehmetoglu, Kemal

doi:10.1016/j.jnucmat.2007.05.029

Cited by 59 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…To measure and indicate technical progress with a fuel concept or design, a technical readiness level (TRL) scale can be applied to nuclear fuels and materials. 2 There are two elements used to evaluate the maturity of a new fuel type in terms of readiness for deployment:…”

Section: Technology Readiness Levelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Technology readiness levels for advanced nuclear fuels and materials development

Carmack

Braase

Wigeland

et al. 2017

Nuclear Engineering and Design

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The Technology Readiness Level (TRL) process is used to quantitatively assess the maturity of a given technology. The TRL process has been developed and successfully used by the Department of Defense (DOD) for development and deployment of new technology and systems for defense applications. In addition, NASA has also successfully used the TRL process to develop and deploy new systems for space applications.Advanced nuclear fuels and materials development is a critical technology needed for closing the nuclear fuel cycle. Because the deployment of a new nuclear fuel forms requires a lengthy and expensive research, development, and demonstration program, applying the TRL concept to the advanced fuel development program is very useful as a management and tracking tool. This report provides definition of the technology readiness level assessment process as defined for use in assessing nuclear fuel technology development for the Advanced Fuel Campaign (AFC).

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Section: Technology Readiness Levelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Technology readiness levels for advanced nuclear fuels and materials development

Carmack

Braase

Wigeland

et al. 2017

Nuclear Engineering and Design

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“…4 First, science-based models are needed to replace empirical correlations that are currently used to model major fuel behavior phenomena. However, these correlations were developed through existing databases of experimental data that are inadequate for developing science-based models.…”

Section: New In-pile Instrumentation To Support Fuel Cycle Research Amentioning

confidence: 99%

New In-pile Instrumentation to Support Fuel Cycle Research and Development

Rempe¹,

MacLean²,

Schley³

et al. 2011

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SUMMARYNew and enhanced nuclear fuels are a key enabler for new and improved reactor technologies. For example, the goals of the next generation nuclear plant (NGNP) will not be met without irradiations successfully demonstrating the safety and reliability of new fuels. Likewise, fuel reliability has become paramount in ensuring the competitiveness of nuclear power plants. Recently, the Office of Nuclear Energy in the Department of Energy (DOE-NE) launched a new direction in fuel research and development that emphasizes an approach relying on first principle models to develop optimized fuel designs that offer significant improvements over current fuels. To facilitate this approach, high fidelity, real-time, data are essential for characterizing the performance of new fuels during irradiation testing. A three-year strategic research program has been initiated for developing the required test vehicles with sensors of unprecedented accuracy and resolution for obtaining the data needed to characterize three-dimensional changes in fuel microstructure during irradiation testing. When implemented, this strategy will yield test capsule designs that are instrumented with new sensor technologies for irradiations at facilities primarily relied upon by the Fuel Cycle Research and Development (FCR&D) program, the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) and the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR). Prior laboratory testing, and as needed, irradiation testing of sensors in these capsules will have been completed to give sufficient confidence that the irradiation tests will yield the required data.From the onset of this instrumentation development effort, it was recognized that obtaining these sensors must draw upon the expertise of a wide-range of organizations not currently supporting nuclear fuels research. Hence, a draft version of this document was developed to provide necessary background information related to fuel irradiation testing, desired parameters for detection, and an overview of currently available in-pile instrumentation. Then, a workshop was held in which U.S. and foreign experts from fuels, irradiation, and instrumentation fields participated. Prior to this workshop, copies of a draft version of this document were distributed to participants to stimulate expert interactions at this meeting. During the workshop, candidate sensor technologies identified in this document were discussed and ranked by the experts using agreed upon criteria. The final version of this document describes the consensus reached during the workshop with respect to recommendations for the path forward for accomplishing the goals of this research program.Based on the activities completed to develop this strategic plan, it is recommended that the FCR&D instrumentation development program be initiated as a three year program that includes the following three tasks:• Ultrasonics-Based Evaluations -In this task, laboratory evaluations and necessary irradiations will be completed to demonstrate the viability of this technology for in-pile applications. Specif...

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“…Crawford et al have provided a useful framework for the steps involved in a fuel development and qualification process [19]. The authors identify that the next major phase after fuel concept definition and feasibility is fuel design improvement and evaluation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Irradiation effects on thermal properties of LWR hydride fuel

Terrani

Balooch

Carpenter

et al. 2017

Journal of Nuclear Materials

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Three hydride mini-fuel rods were fabricated and irradiated at the MIT nuclear reactor with a maximum burnup of 0.33% FIMA or ~5 MWd/kgU equivalent oxide fuel burnup. Fuel rods consisted of uranium-zirconium hydride (U(30wt%)ZrH1.6) pellets clad inside a LWR Zircaloy-2 tubing. The gap between the fuel and the cladding was filled with lead-bismuth eutectic alloy to eliminate the gas gap and the large temperature drop across it. Each minifuel rod was instrumented with two thermocouples with tips that are axially located halfway through the fuel centerline and cladding surface. In-pile temperature measurements enabled calculation of thermal conductivity in this fuel as a function of temperature and burnup. In-pile thermal conductivity at the beginning of test agreed well with out-of-pile measurements on unirradiated fuel and decreased rapidly with burnup.

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An approach to fuel development and qualification

Cited by 59 publications

References 3 publications

Technology readiness levels for advanced nuclear fuels and materials development

Technology readiness levels for advanced nuclear fuels and materials development

New In-pile Instrumentation to Support Fuel Cycle Research and Development

Irradiation effects on thermal properties of LWR hydride fuel

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