• Journal of Welding and Joining
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.88-94
• /
• 2001

DUPIC (Direct use of spent PWR fuel in CANDU reactors) nuclear fuel is a CANDU fuel fabricated remotely from spent PWR fuel materials in a hot cell. The soundness of the end closure welds of nuclear fuel elements is an important factor for the safety and performance of nuclear fuel. To evaluate the soundness of the end closure welds of DUPIC fuel element, a precise X-ray inspection system is developed using a micro-focus X-ray generator with an image intensifier and a real time camera system. The fuel elements made of Zircaloy-4 and stainless steel by an Nd:YAG laser welding and a TIG welding aye inspected by the developed inspection system. The soundness of the welds of the fuel elements was confirmed by the X-ray inspection process, and the irradiation test of DUPIC fuel elements has been successfully completed at the HANARO research reactor.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.85-91
• /
• 1998

In nuclear fuel manufacturing process, end-closure welding has long been recognized as requiring very high integrity. In this basic study, ECT(eddy current testing) method for end-closure welding has been developed to detect end cap weld discontinuities for nuclear fuel safety. In order to improve the inspection reliability, the maximum scanning speed and the maximum frequency is investigated for end-closure welding inspection. The bandpass filter(0-250Hz) is used for removing noise effects. This study shows that ECT method is effective and sensitive for the detection of small defect(0.35mm diameter).

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
• /
• 2000.10a
• /
• pp.251-253
• /
• 2000

• Journal of Welding and Joining
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.98-104
• /
• 2002

A study on microstructures of welds for Zircaloy-4 sheath end closure by the resistance upset welding methods was carried out. Two upset welding process variations such as magnetic farce and multi-impulse resistance welding were used. Grain size and microhardness across welds were analysed in terms of welding parameters. Magnetic farce resistance weld with one cycle of unbalanced mode has smaller upset length and $\alpha-grain$ size in heat affected zone than those of multi-impulse resistance weld because of lower heat input and shorter welding time. Heat affected zone formed by two upset resistance welding variations revealed fine Widmanstatten structure or martensitic ${\alpha}'$ structure due to the high heating rate and foster cooling rate. Magnetic force resistance welds showed recrystallized grains before grain growth, whereas multi-impulse resistance welds showed full grain growth.