Performance of HTR fuel samples under high-irradiation and accident simulation conditions, with emphasis on test capsules HFR-P4 and SL-P1
- Authors
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1997
- Source
- OpenGrey Repository
- Keywords
- Language
- English
- License
- Unknown
Abstract
The central aspect of the safety philosophy for a small HTR is the retention of fission products, particularly those of the iodine nuclides, in the fuel elements during operation and accidents. The HFR-P4 and SL-P1 experiments were intended to test the performance limits of the LEU TRISO particle during irradiation. Due to the low heavy metal contamination of modern fuel elements, fission gas or iodine release is dominated by the number of defective coated particles. For this reason, the determination of the number of damaged particles was the central objective of measuring the fission gas releases in the reactor and in the extensive post-irradiation examinations. Although the values for burnup, fast neutron fluence and irradiation temperature envisaged in an HTR-MODUL were clearly exceeded, it became apparent that of a total of 78,400 particles employed, only one was defective (i.e. not gastight) during irradiation. In which connection, the damage probably occurred before irradiation, at the end of pre-activation treatment. Two further incidences of particle damage probably occurred during shutdown of the HFR-P4 experiment. (orig./DG) / Revised reprint of Juel--2992 / SIGLE / Available from FIZ Karlsruhe / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische Informationsbibliothek / DE / Germany
