• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.42 no.4
• /
• pp.434-441
• /
• 2010

The activation products of aluminum and argon are key radionuclides for operational and environmental radiological safety during the normal operation of open-tank-in-pool type research reactors using aluminum-clad fuels. Their activities measured in the primary coolant and pool surface water of HANARO have been consistent. We estimated their sources from the measured activities and then compared these values with their production rates obtained by a core calculation. For each aluminum activation product, an equivalent aluminum thickness (EAT) in which its production rate is identical to its release rate into the coolant is determined. For the argon activation calculation, the saturated argon concentration in the water at the temperature of the pool surface is assumed. The EATs are 5680, 266 and 1.2 nm, respectively, for Na-24, Mg-27 and Al-28, which are much larger than the flight lengths of the respective recoil nuclides. These values coincide with the water solubility levels and with the half-lives. The EAT for Na-24 is similar to the average oxide layer thickness (OLT) of fuel cladding as well; hence, the majority of them in the oxide layer may be released to the coolant. However, while the average OLT clearly increases with the fuel burn-up during an operation cycle, its effect on the pool-top radiation is not distinguishable. The source of Ar-41 is in good agreement with the calculated reaction rate of Ar-40 dissolved in the coolant.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.46 no.2
• /
• pp.169-182
• /
• 2014

High-performance research reactors require fuel that operates at high specific power to high fission density, but at relatively low temperatures. Research reactor fuels are designed for efficient heat rejection, and are composed of assemblies of thin-plates clad in aluminum alloy. The development of low-enriched fuels to replace high-enriched fuels for these reactors requires a substantially increased uranium density in the fuel to offset the decrease in enrichment. Very few fuel phases have been identified that have the required combination of very-high uranium density and stable fuel behavior at high burnup. U-Mo alloys represent the best known tradeoff in these properties. Testing of aluminum matrix U-Mo aluminum matrix dispersion fuel revealed a pattern of breakaway swelling behavior at intermediate burnup, related to the formation of a molybdenum stabilized high aluminum intermetallic phase that forms during irradiation. In the case of monolithic fuel, this issue was addressed by eliminating, as much as possible, the interfacial area between U-Mo and aluminum. Based on scoping irradiation test data, a fuel plate system composed of solid U-10Mo fuel meat, a zirconium diffusion barrier, and Al6061 cladding was selected for development. Developmental testing of this fuel system indicates that it meets core criteria for fuel qualification, including stable and predictable swelling behavior, mechanical integrity to high burnup, and geometric stability. In addition, the fuel exhibits robust behavior during power-cooling mismatch events under irradiation at high power.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.100-106
• /
• 2006

Today, restricted energy sources, environmental considerations and the high cost of transporting fuel have limited the number and location of available power plant sites. The pressures resulting from these conditions have tended to require the construction of long, high-capacity, high-voltage power lines. it's used to adapt to STACIR/AW(Super Thermal-resistant Aluminum alloy Conductors, aluminum-clad Invar-Reinforced) conductor for coping with these situations. STACIR/AW conductor was formed by the combination of INVAR/AW as the core for low sag and super thermal-resistant aluminum alloy conductor for current capacity increase. increase of temperature by current capacity and long span lines make the susceptible to the deterioration of thermo-mechanical properties(conductivity, tensile strength, E-modulus and twist property et al). In the present work, changes of thermo-mechanical properties with aging have been studied in STACIR/AW $410 mm^2$ conductor with forms of single wire and strand wire.