Abstracts and Available Papers Presented at the
1999 International RERTR Meeting

INITIAL ASSESMENT OF RADIATION BEHAVIOR OF
 VERY-HIGH-DENSITY LOW-ENRICHED-URANIUM FUELS*

G. L. Hofman, M. K. Meyer, J. L. SNELGROVE

M. L. Dietz, R. V. STRAIN, and K-H. KIM*

Argonne National Laboratory
9700 South Cass Avenue
Argonne, Illinois 60439-4815 U.S.A.

*Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute
150, Dukjin-Dong, Yusong-Ku, Taejon, 305-353, Korea

ABSTRACT

Results from the postirradiation examinations of microplates irradiated in the RERTR-1 and -2 experiments in the ATR have shown several binary and ternary U-Mo alloys to be promising candidates for use in aluminum-based dispersion fuels with uranium densities up to 8 to 9 g/cm3.  Ternary alloys of uranium, niobium, and zirconium performed poorly, however, both in terms of fuel/matrix reaction and fission-gas-bubble behavior, and have been dropped from further study.  Since irradiation temperatures achieved in the present experiments (approximately 70°C) are considerably lower than might be experienced in a high-performance reactor, a new experiment is being planned with beginning-of-cycle temperatures greater than 200°C in 8-g U/cm3 fuel.

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