Browsing by Author "Hofman, GL"

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    Post irradiation examination of monolithic mini-fuel plates from RERTR-6 and 7
    (European Nuclear Society, 2007-03-11) Finlay, MR; Wachs, DM; Robinson, AB; Hofman, GL
    Successful qualification of the monolithic fuel is required for the conversion of the high performance research reactors and significant effort is being devoted to its development. The RERTR-6 experiment was designed to irradiate the first monolithic fuel mini-plates at moderate power density to moderate burn-up. The follow-on experiment, RERTR-7, aimed to irradiate monolithic fuel mini-plates at very high power density to high burn-up. It contained monolithic mini-plates fabricated by friction stir welding (FSW) and transient liquid phase bonding (TLPB). The post-irradiation of RERTR-7 indicates that porosity formation is occurring at the interface between the foil and the cladding in FSW plates. No porosity was observed in TLPB plates. The observations of delamination of FSW plates correlate with the initial mechanical testing results. A number of developments are being pursued on the fabrication front to address some of the observations and should be implemented in RERTR-9.