22 research outputs found
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Testing of Gas Reactor Fuel and Materials in the Advanced Test Reactor
The recent growth in interest for high temperature gas reactors has resulted in an increased need for materials and fuel testing for this type of reactor. The Advanced Test Reactor (ATR), located at the US Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory, has long been involved in testing gas reactor fuel and materials, and has facilities and capabilities to provide the right environment for gas reactor irradiation experiments. These capabilities include both passive sealed capsule experiments, and instrumented/actively controlled experiments. The instrumented/actively controlled experiments typically contain thermocouples and control the irradiation temperature, but on-line measurements and controls for pressure and gas environment have also been performed in past irradiations. The ATR has an existing automated gas temperature control system that can maintain temperature in an irradiation experiment within very tight bounds, and has developed an on-line fission product monitoring system that is especially well suited for testing gas reactor particle fuel. The ATR’s control system, which consists primarily of vertical cylinders used to rotate neutron poisons/reflectors toward or away from the reactor core, provides a constant vertical flux profile over the duration of each operating cycle. This constant chopped cosine shaped axial flux profile, with a relatively flat peak at the vertical centre of the core, is more desirable for experiments than a constantly moving axial flux peak resulting from a control system of axially positioned control components which are vertically withdrawn from the core
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Design of the Advanced Gas Reactor Fuel Experiments for Irradiation in the Advanced Test Reactor
The United States Department of Energy’s Advanced Gas Reactor (AGR) Fuel Development and Qualification Program will be irradiating eight particle fuel tests in the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) located at the newly formed Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to support development of the next generation Very High Temperature Reactor (VHTR) in the United States. The ATR has a long history of irradiation testing in support of reactor development and the INL has been designated as the new United States Department of Energy’s lead laboratory for nuclear energy development. These AGR fuel experiments will be irradiated over the next ten years to demonstrate and qualify new particle fuel for use in high temperature gas reactors. The experiments will be irradiated in an inert sweep gas atmosphere with on-line temperature monitoring and control combined with on-line fission product monitoring of the sweep gas. The final design phase has just been completed on the first experiment (AGR-1) in this series and the support systems and fission product monitoring system that will monitor and control the experiment during irradiation. This paper discusses the development of the experimental hardware and support system designs and the status of the experiment
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The Advanced Test Reactor Irradiation Capabilities Available as a National Scientific User Facility
The Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) is one of the world’s premiere test reactors for performing long term, high flux, and/or large volume irradiation test programs. The ATR is a very versatile facility with a wide variety of experimental test capabilities for providing the environment needed in an irradiation experiment. These capabilities include simple capsule experiments, instrumented and/or temperature-controlled experiments, and pressurized water loop experiment facilities. Monitoring systems have also been utilized to monitor different parameters such as fission gases for fuel experiments, to measure specimen performance during irradiation. ATR’s control system provides a stable axial flux profile throughout each reactor operating cycle, and allows the thermal and fast neutron fluxes to be controlled separately in different sections of the core. The ATR irradiation positions vary in diameter from 16 mm to 127 mm over an active core height of 1.2 m. This paper discusses the different irradiation capabilities with examples of different experiments and the cost/benefit issues related to each capability. The recent designation of ATR as a national scientific user facility will make the ATR much more accessible at very low to no cost for research by universities and possibly commercial entities
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Safety Assurance for ATR Irradiations
The Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) located at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is the world’s premiere test reactor for performing high fluence, large volume, irradiation test programs. The ATR has many capabilities and a wide variety of tests are performed in this truly one of a kind reactor, including isotope production, simple self-contained static capsule experiments, instrumented/controlled experiments, and loop testing under pressurized water conditions. Along with the five pressurized water loops, ATR may also have gas (temperature controlled) lead experiments, fuel boosted fast flux experiments, and static sealed capsules all in the core at the same time. In addition, any or all of these tests may contain fuel or moderating materials that can affect reactivity levels in the ATR core. Therefore the safety analyses required to ensure safe operation of each experiment as well as the reactor itself are complex. Each test has to be evaluated against stringent reactor control safety criteria, as well as the effects it could have on adjacent tests and the reactor as well as the consequences of those effects. The safety analyses of each experiment are summarized in a document entitled the Experiment Safety Assurance Package (ESAP). The ESAP references and employs the results of the reactor physics, thermal, hydraulic, stress, seismic, vibration, and all other analyses necessary to ensure the experiment can be irradiated safely in the ATR. The requirements for reactivity worth, chemistry compatibilities, pressure limitations, material issues, etc. are all specified in the Technical Safety Requirements and the Upgraded Final Safety Analysis Report (UFSAR) for the ATR. This paper discusses the ESAP process, types of analyses, types of safety requirements and the approvals necessary to ensure an experiment can be safely irradiated in the ATR
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Completing the Design of the Advanced Gas Reactor Fuel Development and Qualification Experiments for Irradiation in the Advanced Test Reactor
The United States Department of Energy’s Advanced Gas Reactor (AGR) Fuel Development and Qualification Program will be irradiating eight separate low enriched uranium (LEU) oxycarbide (UCO) tri-isotopic (TRISO) particle fuel (in compact form) experiments in the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) located at the newly formed Idaho National Laboratory (INL). These irradiations and fuel development are being accomplished to support development of the next generation reactors in the United States. The ATR has a long history of irradiation testing in support of reactor development and the INL has been designated as the new United States Department of Energy’s lead laboratory for nuclear energy development. The ATR is one of the world’s premiere test reactors for performing long term, high flux, and/or large volume irradiation test programs. These AGR fuel experiments will be irradiated over the next ten years to demonstrate and qualify new particle fuel for use in high temperature gas reactors. The goals of the irradiation experiments are to provide irradiation performance data to support fuel process development, to qualify fuel for normal operating conditions, to support development and validation of fuel performance and fission product transport models and codes, and to provide irradiated fuel and materials for post irradiation examination (PIE) and safety testing. The experiments, which will each consist of six separate capsules, will be irradiated in an inert sweep gas atmosphere with individual on-line temperature monitoring and control for each capsule. The swept gas will also have on-line fission product monitoring to track performance of the fuel in each individual capsule during irradiation
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Irradiation Facilities at the Advanced Test Reactor
The Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) is the third generation and largest test reactor built in the Reactor Technology Complex (RTC – formerly known as the Test Reactor Area), located at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), to study the effects of intense neutron and gamma radiation on reactor materials and fuels. The RTC was established in the early 1950s with the development of the Materials Testing Reactor (MTR), which operated until 1970. The second major reactor was the Engineering Test Reactor (ETR), which operated from 1957 to 1981, and finally the ATR, which began operation in 1967 and will continue operation well into the future. These reactors have produced a significant portion of the world’s data on materials response to reactor environments. The wide range of experiment facilities in the ATR and the unique ability to vary the neutron flux in different areas of the core allow numerous experiment conditions to co-exist during the same reactor operating cycle. Simple experiments may involve a non-instrumented capsule containing test specimens with no real-time monitoring or control capabilities1. More sophisticated testing facilities include inert gas temperature control systems and pressurized water loops that have continuous chemistry, pressure, temperature, and flow control as well as numerous test specimen monitoring capabilities. There are also apparatus that allow for the simulation of reactor transients on test specimens
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The Next Generation Nuclear Plant/Advanced Gas Reactor Fuel Irradiation Experiments in the Advanced Test Reactor
The United States Department of Energy’s Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) Program will be irradiating eight separate low enriched uranium (LEU) tri-isotopic (TRISO) particle fuel (in compact form) experiments in the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) located at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL). The ATR has a long history of irradiation testing in support of reactor development and the INL has been designated as the new United States Department of Energy’s lead laboratory for nuclear energy development. The ATR is one of the world’s premiere test reactors for performing long term, high flux, and/or large volume irradiation test programs. These irradiations and fuel development are being accomplished to support development of the next generation reactors in the United States, and will be irradiated over the next ten years to demonstrate and qualify new particle fuel for use in high temperature gas reactors. The goals of the irradiation experiments are to provide irradiation performance data to support fuel process development, to qualify fuel for normal operating conditions, to support development and validation of fuel performance and fission product transport models and codes, and to provide irradiated fuel and materials for post irradiation examination (PIE) and safety testing. The experiments, which will each consist of at least six separate capsules, will be irradiated in an inert sweep gas atmosphere with individual on-line temperature monitoring and control of each capsule. The sweep gas will also have on-line fission product monitoring on its effluent to track performance of the fuel in each individual capsule during irradiation. The first experiment (designated AGR-1) started irradiation in December 2006, and the second experiment (AGR-2) is currently in the design phase. The design of test trains, as well as the support systems and fission product monitoring system that will monitor and control the experiment during irradiation will be discussed. In addition, the purpose and differences between the two experiments will be compared and the irradiation results to date on the first experiment will be presented
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INITIAL IRRADIATION OF THE FIRST ADVANCED GAS REACTOR FUEL DEVELOPMENT AND QUALIFICATION EXPERIMENT IN THE ADVANCED TEST REACTOR
The United States Department of Energy’s Advanced Gas Reactor (AGR) Fuel Development and Qualification Program will be irradiating eight separate tri-isotopic (TRISO) particle fuel (in compact form) experiments in the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) located at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL). These irradiations and fuel development are being accomplished to support development of the next generation reactors in the United States. The ATR has a long history of irradiation testing in support of reactor development and the INL has been designated as the United States Department of Energy’s lead laboratory for nuclear energy development. The ATR is one of the world’s premiere test reactors for performing long term, high flux, and/or large volume irradiation test programs. These AGR fuel experiments will be irradiated over the next ten years to demonstrate and qualify new particle fuel for use in high temperature gas reactors. The experiments, which will each consist of six separate capsules, will be irradiated in an inert sweep gas atmosphere with individual on-line temperature monitoring and control for each capsule. The swept gas will also have on-line fission product monitoring to track performance of the fuel in each individual capsule during irradiation
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Capabilities and Facilities Available at the Advanced Test Reactor to Support Development of the Next Generation Reactors
The ATR is one of the world’s premiere test reactors for performing long term, high flux, and/or large volume irradiation test programs. It is a very versatile facility with a wide variety of experimental test capabilities for providing the environment needed in an irradiation experiment. These different capabilities include passive sealed capsule experiments, instrumented and/or temperature-controlled experiments, and pressurized water loop experiment facilities. The Irradiation Test Vehicle (ITV) installed in 1999 enhanced these capabilities by providing a built in experiment monitoring and control system for instrumented and/or temperature controlled experiments. This built in control system significantly reduces the cost for an actively monitored/temperature controlled experiments by providing the thermocouple connections, temperature control system, and temperature control gas supply and exhaust systems already in place at the irradiation position. Although the ITV in-core hardware was removed from the ATR during the last core replacement completed in early 2005, it (or a similar facility) could be re-installed for an irradiation program when the need arises. The proposed Gas Test Loop currently being designed for installation in the ATR will provide additional capability for testing of not only gas reactor materials and fuels but will also include enhanced fast flux rates for testing of materials and fuels for other next generation reactors including preliminary testing for fast reactor fuels and materials. This paper discusses the different irradiation capabilities available and the cost benefit issues related to each capability
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The Advanced Test Reactor Irradiation Facilities and Capabilities
The Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) is one of the world’s premiere test reactors for performing long term, high flux, and/or large volume irradiation test programs. The ATR is a very versatile facility with a wide variety of experimental test capabilities for providing the environment needed in an irradiation experiment. These different capabilities include passive sealed capsule experiments, instrumented and/or temperature-controlled experiments, and pressurized water loop experiment facilities. The ATR has enhanced capabilities in experiment monitoring and control systems for instrumented and/or temperature controlled experiments. The control systems utilize feedback from thermocouples in the experiment to provide a custom blended flowing inert gas mixture to control the temperature in the experiments. Monitoring systems have also been utilized on the exhaust gas lines from the experiment to monitor different parameters, such as fission gases for fuel experiments, during irradiation. ATR’s unique control system provides axial flux profiles in the experiments, unperturbed by axially positioned control components, throughout each reactor operating cycle and over the duration of test programs requiring many years of irradiation. The ATR irradiation positions vary in diameter from 1.6 cm (0.625 inches) to 12.7 cm (5.0 inches) over an active core length of 122 cm (48.0 inches). Thermal and fast neutron fluxes can be adjusted radially across the core depending on the needs of individual test programs. This paper will discuss the different irradiation capabilities available and the cost/benefit issues related to each capability. Examples of different experiments will also be discussed to demonstrate the use of the capabilities and facilities at ATR for performing irradiation experiments