Argon permeability of graphite fuel elements for the high-temperature gas-cooled reactor

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Abstract
The flow rate of pressurized argon escaping from individual fuel holes in High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (HTGR) fuel-element blocks by diffusion through graphite webs surrounding the holes was measured for ten fuel-element blocks. The argon permeability varied significantly from block to block. Also, within the blocks, the permeability varied as a function of radial distance from the axis of the prismatic shape. The argon permeability was highest in the center of the fuel blocks. Argon permeability contours were not entirely symmetric, nor were they necessarily centered at the geometric center of the block. The argon permeabilities of fuel holes near the center and exterior of the blocks, where the web thickness is different from that of regular holes, differed from those of the regular fuel holes; however, the difference was too small to be of practical importance.

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