• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.50 no.6
• /
• pp.899-906
• /
• 2018

The irradiation performance of $U_3Si$ dispersion fuel in an Al matrix, $U_3Si-Al$, under the Hi-Flux Advanced Neutron Application Reactor (HANARO) design full-power condition of 30 MW was tested for full-power qualification of the fuel. A test assembly was fabricated containing 18 fuel rods made with atomized $U_3Si$ powder manufactured at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute. The test assembly was irradiated for 188 full-power operation days in the HANARO subject to the normal fuel-loading scheme and achieved about 60 at% U-235 average burnup and 75 at% U-235 peak burnup. The maximum linear power of the test assembly was 98 kW/m. Nondestructive and destructive postirradiation examinations were conducted. The measured postirradiation examination data were compared with data from previous irradiations and the design criteria required for HANARO fuel. Consequently, it was concluded that in-pile performance was acceptable and fuel integrity was maintained, and the behavior satisfied the fuel design requirements.

• Analytical Science and Technology
• /
• v.13 no.5
• /
• pp.584-591
• /
• 2000

The separation of Nd from the simulated $U_3Si/Al$ spent fuel solution with sequential two-step anion exchange separation has been studied. To prepare the simulated $U_3Si/Al$ spent nuclear fuel, unirradiated $U_3Si/Al$ whose composition consists of small $U_3Si$ particle dispersed in an Al matrix with Al cladding was dissolved with a mixture of 4 M HCl and 10 M $HNO_3$ and 8 or 15 fission product elements were added to the dissolved solution. The trace amount of silica in the solutions was removed by evaporating to dryness with HF and the U was adsorbed on the first anion exchange resin. Neodymium can be purely isolated from the fission product elements with a methanol-nitric acid eluent using the second anion exchange resin. A large excess of Al didn't influence on the elution velocity of Nd, but reduced the eluted contents of Nd, Al, Eu, Gd, Sm and Sr, A large amount of Al was removed first from the column with 3 mL of loading solution (0.8 M $HNO_3$/99.8% MeOH) before Nd elution by the eluent [0.04 M $HNO_3$-99.8% MeOH(1:9)]. The recovery of Nd was more than 94%, regardless of Al contents. Taking the 9 to 13 mL fraction of eluate was effective to purely isolate Nd.

• Analytical Science and Technology
• /
• v.17 no.4
• /
• pp.355-362
• /
• 2004

Fission products and Inter reaction layer of $U_3Si-Al$ dispersion fuel, irradiated in HANARO research reactor with 121 kW/m of maximum liner power and 63 at% of average burn-up, was characterization by EPMA (Electron Probe Micro Analyzer). The fuel punching system developed by Irradiated Materials Examination Facility (IMEF) has used to make these samples for the EPMA. With this system a very small and thin specimen which is 1.57 mm in diameter and 2 mm in thickness respectively has been fabricated to protect the EPMA operator from high radioactive fuel and to mini-mize the equivalent dose rate less than 150 mSv/h. EPMA was performed to observe layers of sectional, Inter-reaction and oxide with specimens of cutting and polished. Stoichiometry in the Inter-reaction layer with $16{\mu}m$ of thickness was $U_{2.84}$ Si $Al_{14}$ with calibration of $UO_2$ and $U_{3.24}$ Si $Al_{14.1}$ with calibration of standard specimen. metallic precipitates in this layer were not observed using fission products examination.

• Journal of Powder Materials
• /
• v.1 no.1
• /
• pp.72-78
• /
• 1994

Two kinds of $U_3Si$ powders and $U_3Si$ dispersed nuclear fuel meats have been prepared by conventional comminution process and a newly developed rotating disk atomization process. In contrast to angular shape and broad size distribution of the conventionally processed powder, the atomized powder was spherical and showed narrow size distribution. For the atomized powder, the heat treatment time for the formation of $U_3Si$ by a peritectoid reaction was reduced to about one tenth, thanks to microstructure refinement by rapid cooling of about 5$\times$104 K/s. The extruding pressure of atomized $U_3Si$ powder and Al powder mixture was lower than that of comminuted $U_3Si$ and Al powder mixture. The elongation of the atomization processed fuel meats was much higher than that of the comminution processed fuel meats and remained over 10% up to 80wt.% of $U_3Si$ powder fraction in the fuel meats. It appears therefore that the loading density of $U_3Si$ in fuel meat can be increased by using atomized $U_3Si$ powder. The atomized spherical particles were randomly distributed, while the comminuted particles with angular and longish shape were considerably aligned along the extrusion direction. Along the transverse direction of the extraction the electrical conductivity of the atomization processed fuel meats was appreciably higher than that of comminution processed fuel meats. This tendency became pronounced as $U_3Si$ content increased. Because the thermal conduction which is believed to be proportioned to the electrical conduction in the nuclear fuel meats occurs in radial direction, the atomization processed fuel can be better used in research reactors where high thermal conductivity is required.

• Analytical Science and Technology
• /
• v.13 no.5
• /
• pp.601-607
• /
• 2000

Lanthanum has been used as one of the burnup monitor in spent nuclear fuel. $U_3Si/Al$ spent nuclear fuel contains small amount of La in high concentration of U and Al. Therefore, chemical separation of La is required to remove matrix elements. At first, ion chromatography (IC) and inductively coupled plasma systems were installed in radiation shielded glove box to handle the radioactive samples. Retention behavior of uranium, aluminum, lanthanum and some interesting fission products (Sr, Zr, Y, Mo, Ru, Pd, Rh, Cs, Ba, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu and Cd) was investigated using the CG10 column and ${\alpha}$-HiBA eluent. As all elements were eluted earlier than lanthanum in 0.2 M ${\alpha}$-HiBA eluent, a portion of U and Al was directly passed to waste using a three way valve between the column and the nebulizer. Thus it was possible to determine the lanthanum in a high concentration of U and Al matrix. Retention time of La was about 12 minutes in this separation condition. Optimum range for the determination of La in $U_3Si/Al$ spent nuclear fuel was $1-10{\mu}g/L$ (ppb) with this system and detection limit was $0.25{\mu}g/L$ in case of $200{\mu}L$ of sample volume.

• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
• /
• 2000.04a
• /
• pp.20-20
• /
• 2000

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
• /
• 1999.05a
• /
• pp.259-259
• /
• 1999

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
• /
• 2001.05a
• /
• pp.391.2-391
• /
• 2001

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.53 no.11
• /
• pp.3723-3740
• /
• 2021

The harsh conditions in the reactor affect the thermal and mechanical performance of the fuel plate heavily. Some in-pile behaviors, like fission-induced swelling, can cause a large deformation of fuel plate at very high burnup, which may even disturb the flow of coolant. In this research, the emphasis is put on the thermal expansion, fission-induced swelling, interaction layer (IL) growth, creep of the fuel meat, and plasticity of the cladding for the U₃Si₂/Al dispersion fuel plate. A detailed model of the fuel meat swelling is developed. Taking these in-pile behaviors into consideration, the three-dimensional large deformation incremental constitutive relations and stress update algorithms have been developed to study its thermal-mechanical performance under normal conditions using Abaqus. Results have shown that IL can effectively decrease the thermal conductivity of fuel meat. The high Mises stress region mainly locates at the interface between fuel meat and cladding, especially around the side edge of the interface. With irradiation time increasing, the stress in the fuel plate gets larger resulting from the growth of fuel meat swelling but then decreases under the effect of creep deformation. For the cladding, plasticity deformation does not occur within the irradiation time.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.49 no.3
• /
• pp.645-650
• /
• 2017

This technical note demonstrates the feasibility of using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry for the characterization of U-7Mo/Ale5Si dispersion fuel. Our measurements show 5.0% Relative Standard Deviation (RSD) for the reproducibility of measured $^{98}Mo/^{238}U$ ratios in fuel particles from spot analysis, and 3.4% RSD for $^{98}Mo/^{238}U$ ratios in a NIST-SRM 612 glass standard. Line scanning allows for the distinction of U-7Mo fuel particles from the Al-5Si matrix. Each mass spectrum peak indicates the presence of U-7Mo fuel particles, and the time width of each peak corresponds to the size of that fuel particle. The size of the fuel particles is estimated from the time width of the mass spectrum peak for $^{98}Mo$ by considering the scan rate used during the line scan. This preliminary application clearly demonstrates that laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry can directly identify isotope ratios and sizes of the fuel particles in U-Mo/Al dispersion fuel. Once optimized further, this instrument will be a powerful tool for investigating irradiated dispersion fuels in terms of fission product distributions in fuel matrices, and the changes in fuel particle size or shape after irradiation.