Postirradiation examination of capsules P13R and P13S

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Abstract
Capsules P13R and P13S were the seventh and eighth in a series of irradiation tests conducted under the ERDA-sponsored HTGR Fuels and Core Development Program. Reference type LHTGR fuel fabricated with a broad spectrum of property and process variables was irradiated to extreme temperature and fluence conditions. Postirradiation examination revealed that the bonded fuel rods exhibited good stability after irradiation to fast neutron fluences of 12.4 x 10/sup 21/ n/cm/sup 2/ (E greater than 0.18 MeV), which is 55 percent beyond the LHTGR peak design fast neutron fluence of 8.0 x 10/sup 21/ n/cm/sup 2/. Thermal cycling to high temperatures did not adversely affect fuel rod integrity. Particle batches with coating designs representative of the design requirements envisioned for the LHTGR exhibited excellent irradiation performance. Ten batches of fissile and fertile particles were irradiated without coating failure to fast neutron exposures which exceeded the LHTGR peak design exposure by 35 to 52 percent. Capsules P13R and P13S were considered to be very successful qualification tests of LHTGR fuel components. These results provided a substantial data base for the LHTGR Fuel Product Specification and Performance Models used in HTGR core design studies, and demonstrated the excellent irradiation performance of reference LHTGRmore » fuel to well beyond peak design exposures. « less

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