Fabrication of U233/aluminium fuel plates for a sub-critical assembly - a second report

Abstract

Uranium-233 (as 938..66 g uranium dioxide) was fabricated into 176 full-size, 20 'half-size' and 2 'quarter-size' aluminium clad fuel plated. Each full-size plate contained 5 compact and 'half-size' and 'quarter-size' plates contained 2 compacts and 1 compact respectively; a compact consisted of a cold-pressed dispersion of about 1.5 g of uranium dioxide in aluminium. The technique involved mixing uranium dioxide and aluminium powders, pressing the compacts in a steel die, end-loading them into a prefabricated aluminium can and end-welding the can; following this the can underwent radiographic inspection for uniformity, decontamination, leak detection and acceptance tests, and final decontamination. Maximum permissible radiation doses to hands and bodies of the operators were not exceeded.