HIGH POWER TEST OF LOW ENRICHED UZrH

By Gordon West

SUMMARY

TRIGA-LEU-' fuel is currently undergoing high power tests in the 30 MW Oak Ridge Reactor. These tests are being funded by the Department of Energy

through the RERTR** program and began in mid-December, 1979 on a 16-rod shrouded cluster. The fuel rods are 0.51 in. OD, clad with 0.16 in. Incoloy 30 and It is planned to test fuel with k5,

and the fuel length is 22 in.

20 wt-% U (nominal 20% enriched), to burnup'values of about 50% of the contained U-235 in the k5 wt-% rods and about k0% and 35% burnup in the 30 wt-%, arid 20 wt-% U fuel. It will take about 2 years of irradiation Currently being tested to produce the desired burnup in the k5 wt-% U fuel. are six k5 wt-% U and five 30 wt-% U rods.

The uranium is homogeneously The remaining 5 rods

mixed with the Z r H ^ g , as is about 0.6 wt-% erbium.

are stainless steel dummies which were necessary to meet design limits on the experiment which limited the power generation in a fuel rod to a value which would not raise the coolant temperature above the saturation level. This is an operational requirement of the 0RR. Maximum calculated fuel rod powers were kO kW, which would produce a fuel temperature of about 650C. Maximum operating temperatures are about 400C and 350C for the k5 and 30 wt-% U fuel, respectively. Measurements of the coolant temperature rise

through the cluster (by means of an instrumented special dummy rod), and use of the known flow rate of about 300 gpm have enabled the cluster power generation to be evaluated at about 250 kW, or about 65% of the design value. Reasons for the lower than expected power are still being evaluated and a proposal has been submitted for rearrangement of the fuel rods within the cluster to raise the powers and temperatures in the TRIGA-LEU fuel rods.

* L,ow jSnriched Uranium (enrichment <20%) ** Reduced Enrichment ^Research and T^est _Reactor program administered by Argonne National Laboratory.

4-11

Introduction

TRIGA-LEU* fuel is currently undergoing high power tests in the 30 MW Oak Ridge Reactor. These tests are being funded by the Department of Energy through

the RERTR""* program and began in mid-December, 1979 on a 16-rod shrouded cluster. It is planned to test fuel with 45, 30 and 20 wt-% U (nominal 20% enriched), to burnup values of about 50% of the contained U-235 in the k$ wt-% rods and about 40% and 35% burnup in the 30 wt-%, and 20 wt-% U fuel. It

will take about 2 years of irradiation to produce the desired burnup in the 45 wt-% U fuel. rods. Currently being tested are six 45 wt-% U and five 30 wt-% U

The remaining 5 rods are stainless steel dummies which were necessary

to meet design limits on the experiment which limited the power generation in a fuel rod to a value which would not raise the coolant temperature above the saturation level. This is an operational requirement of the 0RR.

Fuel Rod Description

Fig. 1 shows the design of the TRIGA-LEU fuel rods being tested in the 0RR. The fuel rods are 1.377 cm (0.542 in.) in diameter and approximately 76.2 cm (30.0 in.) long, with a fueled length of 55.88 cm (22.0 in.). Each fuel rod is clad with a 0.04l-cm (0.016-in.)-thickness of Incoloy 800. is an M O - c m There

(4-in.) section at the top of each fuel rod which is included

as a flow-straightening section for the coolant and allows free differential expansion of the fuel and cladding. the fuel pieces remain in position. welded to both ends of the cladding. A spring is installed to ensure that Stainless steel end fittings are heliarc The top end fitting is designed to

fit into the fuel rod handling tool and the bottom end fitting is designed to fit into the fuel cluster grid. in Table 1. The fuel rod specifications are summarized

The active fuel length of each fuel rod is 55.88 cm (22.0 in.), with a diameter of 1.295 cm (0.510 in.). The fuel length is made up of four equal-length pieces. The fuel is a solid, homogeneous mixture of erbium-uranium-zirconium The hydrogen-to-zirconium atom ratio is approximately 1.6.

hydride alloy.

* **

_Low jSnriched Uranium (enrichment <20%) Reduced ^Enrichment Research and ^Test Iteactor program administered by Argonne National Laboratory.

INCOLOY CLADDING:

COMPRESSION SPRING
c-

0.542 O.D. 0.016 THICK

F^

2.12 4.00'
>

TZ&L FUEL PELLETS 22.00 TOTAL LENGTH - ~ | 30.13

T
EL-09B1B

FUEL PIN DESIGN

Fig. 1 - TRIGA fuel pin for 16-pin cluster

DIMENSIONS IN INCHES

-TABLE

NOMINAL FUEL SPECIFICATIONS FOR A SINGLE FUEL ROD Overal1 length Outside clad diameter Overal1 weight Fuel outside diameter Fuel length Fuel composition Weight of U-235 (gm) Uranium content (wt-%) Uranium-235 enrichment Hydrogen-to-zirconium ratio Cladding material Cladding thickness Erbium (wt-%) 76.2 cm (30.0 in.) 1.377 cm (0.542 in.) 438 g (0.97 lb) 1.295 cm (0.510 in.) 55-88 cm (22.0 in.) U-ZrH-Er 55, 32, 19 45, 30, 20 20% (nominal) M.6 Incoloy 800 16 mils 0.8, 0.62, 0.50

The fuel pieces are ground to a high polish and exact tolerances in order to fit closely into the cladding. During final assembly, the clearance area was filled with helium at about The close tolerances

between the fuel rod and the cladding

1/5th of atmospheric pressure before final welding.

and helium backfill increase the heat transfer across the fuel-clad interface and result in lower fuel centerline temperature. There is a temperature instrumented fuel rod for each fuel loading being tested. Instrumented fuel rods have three thermocouples inserted in the fuel.

The sensing tips of the thermocouples are located on the axial centerline of the fuel section and spaced about 2.54 cm (1.0 in.) below the core horizontal midplane. The thermocouple leadout wires pass through a seal con-

tained in the stainless steel top end fitting and through another seal in the upper section of a tube welded to the top end fitting. about 45.72 cm (18.0 in.) above the top end fitting. This tube projects

In other respects

the instrumented fuel rod is identical to the standard rod.

4-14

The individual fuel rods are designed so that any single rod can be removed from its fuel cluster at any time.

Incoloy clad is used because of its excellent strength and ductility, and good chloride stress corrosion characteristics. The nominal 1/2" rods being

tested are the size normally used in the higher power (10 and 14 MW) TRIGA reactors. TRIGA-LEU fuel with kS wt-% U is normally used in this design but

testing is also being done on fuels with 30 and 20 wt-% U (all nominal 20% enriched).

Fuel Cluster

The fuel cluster design used for the irradiation is shown in Fig. 2.

The

outside dimensions and shape duplicate that of the plate-type fuel used to fuel the ORR. The inside dimensions are identical to those for a 16-rod cluster The fuel rod spacing is also

fuel element used in the 10 MW TRIGA design.

identical to that used for the \k MW TRIGA design using 25 rods.

The bottom end fitting is made to fit the ORR grid plate and there are two intermediate spacers and a top spacer to position the fuel rods and help maintain design clearances. The bottom grid is such that fixed orientation These are all standard

of any fuel rod can be maintained in 90 intervals.

design features for the 10 and \k MW TRIGA fuel clusters.

Cluster and Leadout Assembly Fig. 3 shows the assembly drawing for the fuel cluster and leadout tube. leadout tube is made of stainless steel and serves to protect the thermocouple leadout wires from the forces of the 1800 GPM coolant flow. The leadThe

out tube extends from the fuel cluster through a flange on the top of the ORR pressure vessel.

4-15

Fuel Rod Layout

The layout of the fuel rods within the 16-rod cluster is shown in Fig. k. The outside shroud dimensions are not applicable to the TRIGA test in the ORR. The inside dimension of the shroud is 2.679 in. square and the fuel rods are spaced 0.643 in. center-to-center. This arrangement results in a nominal

0.100 in. clearance between fuel rods and between a rod and the shroud wall. Design conditions are based on an allowable clearance of 0.030 in.

Nuclear Analysis

The nuclear design and analysis involved extensive calculations of the ORR both with and without the TRIGA-LEU' test cluster. Initial calculations were

aimed at modeling a representative core configuration and loading prior to insertion of the TRIGA cluster. in core location F-9 Final calculations included the TRIGA cluster

Standard General Atomic cross section data tapes were

used to generate broad group (3 fast + k thermal) cross sections for all elements or isotopes in the core including all pertinent fission products. The

GAM portion of the GGC code was used to generate fast cross sections and the GATHER and GTF codes were used for thermal cross sections. The two-dimensional

diffusion theory code "2DB" was used for most reactor calculations.

The representative configuration and loadings used for the ORR core were given by ORR operations personnel. The ORR uses plate-type fuel and has a The generalized

nominal 3 in. thick beryllium reflector on three sides. calculational model is shown in Fig. 5are given in Table 2.

The materials in the various regions

The representative ORR core was modeled with fuel in

six different stages of burnup - 0%, ]0%, 20%, 30%, k0%, and 50% - along with the appropriate fission product densities for each stage of burnup. The

atomic densities for these stages of burnup were generated by burning up a freshly loaded ORR core and getting calculational edits at each of the desired burnup points.

Calculations of the activation induced in an aluminum wire containing 1 wt-% Co-59> placed in a beryllium reflector block in the F-9 location, agreed to

4-16

8.100 cm (3.189 in.) 7.963 cm (3.135 in.)6.805 cm (2.679 in.)

FUEL CLUSTER DIMENSION INCLUDING CLEARANCE (SAME AS CENTER-TO-CENTER CLUSTER SPACING)

FUEL CLUSTER SHROUD

6.805 cm (2.679 in.)

7.572 cm (2.981 in.)

7.709 cm (3.035 in.)

0.228 IN. WALL

T
1.633 cm (0.6*0 in.) 0.953 cm (0.375 in.)

FUEL ROD (0.5^2 in. OD)

EL-2686

Fig. 4

-General layout of 16-pin fuel cluster

89.045
R e g i o n Numbers ]^ 5 6 Ho.O C o n t r o l Rods

75.395 72.855 64.760

II
S3
s
O
(t>

41
\7
36
40% H20 60% A l

56.665 S 0 48.570

J3
3 W D

31
)8

u
T H

35T
37

Ml

40.475
3

o c
03

32.380

.4 -4
4

23
OB

x
13
2<f
3
OJ OO
- 0">

If
a<>
30 30

1ST )G
\

pa
39 33

ftt

2S-

26 33
"OH?

a.
a
N3

24.285 14 16.190 14.285

27

^0
2

BE
41% V o i d 10% A l

7PT

ys

ks% H O
2

intervals per region

L_l
_~j

3
ro

.
oo o
00
i

3
CO

,
en <> x eo eo -e

3 ft ,4, 4,4, j
~ j -~j

6
o o

~j

co en
OO OO

en

en o

-t

"_, t n*

OJ

en en eo

Cn
-J

en

uo

ro ro
CO

<x> ro ~o

'

CO CO -P> CTl ^ O V5

CO

eo

-t=> cn r o en

!_.
en

Table 2 - REgion Description for XY Model of ORR

Region

ft

Type of Region 27 fuel assemblies and 6 control rod followers Al test assemblies D-2 test assembly Reflector Large facilities Core box Water shield Beam ports TRIGA fuel cells

Composi tion

1-33
34, 36,-39

100% Al 67-5% Be, 24.88% Al, 7-62% H 0

2

35
40, 41

100% Be 40% H 0 , 60% Al

2

42 43 44 45
46-61

100% Al 100% H 0
2

41% void, 9-5% Al, 49-5% H 0

2

TRIGA-LEU fuel and H 0

2

4-21

3 30 39.6 696 45 35.8 654 45 30.5 592 45 37.2 670

4 30 37.7 676 45 39.1 690 45 34.6 640 45 38.3 682

. _. .,

ss

ss
30 36.0 656 30 31.6 605 30 36.2 658

wt % U power (kW) C (1.25 mil rad gap)

ss

ss

ss

6 -Generalized TRIGA-LEU fuel cluster model in the ORR showing calculated rod power and temperature

4-22

within ^20% with the measured value.

It is also noted that the operational procedure for the ORR is to raise the two control rods at the east end of the core (the TRIGA experiment is on the northeast corner) full out and then operate the remaining four rods in a bank (which is near full out after xenon has built in).

A generalized model of the TRIGA-LEU cluster is shown in Fig. 6.

This is

a description of part of the total 2DB geometric model, showing the F-9 location. The TRIGA cluster was modeled with each of its 16 fuel rods discretely described so fuel loadings could be independently calculated.

It is planned to test three different wt-% U loadings in the TRIGA-LEU test cluster. In order to have the maximum fuel rod power at an acceptable value for ORR operational requirements, only six k5 vit-% and five 30 wt-% fuel rods along with 5 stainless steel dummy rods were contained within the shroud for the initial portion of the irradiation. In Fig. 6 are shown the calculated

powers generated in each fuel rod for this array where the uranium is 201 enriched in each case. shown in Fig. 6. The calculated maximum temperature in each rod is also

The limiting design parameter was the rod power to produce

a fuel rod surface temperature no greater than the local saturation temperature. This is a limitation in the ORR to provide an adequate margin for the restriction against any boiling in the core. It was calculated that a limiting TRIGA-LEU rod power of about kO kW met the limit on saturation temperature. Thermal Design With a single 16-rod TRIGA cluster in the ORR the coolant mass flow will be divided in such a fashion that the pressure drop across the ORR elements and the 16-rod TRIGA cluster will be equal. The functional relationship between

the pressure loss and the flow rate through an element is available as the result of measurements made in the ORR and in a flow experiment at ORNL with the 16-rod TRIGA cluster. Using these data it was found that the flow through

a single 16-rod TRIGA cluster is about 280 gpm when there are 32 ORR elements

4-23

in the core, the pressure drop is about 21 psi, and the total flow rate is 17,000 gpm. The nominal flow rate is 18,000 gpm, but 17,000 gpm was a minimum design value.

A modified version of the TIGER code was used to analyze the thermal-hydraulic conditions in a fuel rod and coolant channel. of TIGER to the design conditions are The results of the application

summarized in Fig. 7 where the abscissa

is the vertical or axial distance from top to bottom of the heated length of the cluster. The ordinates are the heat flux, the temperatures of the fuel, The results are for a The axial

cladding, and cooling water, and the pressure drop. channel operating at 40 kW per

rod with a flow rate of 280 gpm.

power distribution has a peak-to-average ratio of 1.44.

The discontinuities in the Ap curve in Fig. 7 are due to losses across the two intermediate fuel rod spacers. A head loss coefficient of 0.4 was used for the The slope of the remain-

spacers, and is based on experimental measurements.

ing Ap curve is slight due to the gain in elevation head from top to bottom of the fuel rod bundle. To ensure a wel1-distributed flow before the fueled

(heated) portion of the rod, an entrance length of 10 hydraulic diameters (4 in. or 10 cm) has been provided.

In Fig. 8 there is shown the region along the surface of the fuel rod at which local boiling might occur as a function of the power produced in the rod. no boiling if the axial peaking factor is 1.44. It can be seen that for a fuel rod power level of less than 53 kW there will be If the measured peaking factor of 1.256 for the F-9 location is used (measured with a beryllium block in F-9), the power can be 60 kW before incipient boiling is calculated to begin.

Results from this same series of calculations also indicate that the fuel rod power necessary to produce a clad temperature equal to the local saturation temperature is about 42 kW for an axial peaking factor 1.44 and about kj if the measured peaking factor of 1.256 is used. kW

The peak heat flux occurs somewhat below the axial center of the fuel rods, therefore the DNB ratio is a minimum at this location. For a fuel rod

4-24

m O X
CM

q
<* T

\n

>^ & H
M
rH

C
S A 3

X 3

Pn to W i
4-1

Fuel ~~~\ Centerline

0)
4-1 CO Hi

I a'
20

H [0 0) 0)
J

O. I

lb

a)

10 CO

ru

SA

~x

Tt

T~

To

i^:

i*

T5

IT

Axial Distance From Top of Fuel Region - Ft Fig. 7 -Axial temperature and pressure drop profiles of the 16-rod TRIGA element (channel power - 40 kW; bundle flow rate = 280 gpm; axial peaking = 1.44; radial cold gap = 0.5 mil) 4-25

Local

Boiling

Region Versus

Power

in

Rod

Flow i n 1 6 - r o d c l u s t e r I n l e t Temperature I n l e t Pressure

- 280 gpm - 120 F - 55 p s i a

n

**

-7

: .|i ..
; !

i ' i

..

i
1
\

|
: | .
i

.. . . |....... . 1

! i
' 1
1 1 : i

i
i

.
1

j :

....:....

: ... :

.
. .
..;... i '. 1

<;

i'
i

!
! !

T
! !

1 ! i

u.

,? ~t
\X

' .. . | i i

. .

vl

"1

T|
|0
l+r

ft

Ho fro> Ulihi > . ; . . . )

i

....}*>.

-V^.H p O T

rsioi 0 \ ( 0

<a

- j

I
- h -

-4
i
!

"
1

--[""

i '1
tfi
:"?
' : :

- -:-- _..

'
t

*S

--

i 1
1

;..._ ; i
.I

~4-

r-

__

* .:.:
W.:

T *

- 3 fr-

::(

e
ii
: :

:;11

I
: :

Si:

s? Ei ?.\b*. ^ pC >::- &

i Dii
*V
i:'.\

- 1 &:

Wl

;.?:

h ;;;;
:;;;

ii

Fig. 8 - Local boiling region versus power in rod 4-26

operating at kO kW the minimum DNB ratio is 1.96.

2

At the high flow rate of

5.9 million lb (mass)/hr-ft , the bulk water temperature rise is only 15-6F (8.7C) so that, with an inlet temperature of 120F (^9C), the bulk coolant in the hottest channel is highly subcooled by 130F (72C) or more throughout the length of the bundle. The cladding and fuel temperature profiles follow It can be observed that

quite closely the shape of the input heat flux curve.

the largest temperature increases occur through the fuel and through the fuelcladding interface. At the axial center, the interface is a 0.5~mil radial, The fuel-cladding
2

helium-filled gap (when the rod is cold) at beginning of life.

gap temperature drop of 1^7F (82C) and the heat flux of 757,000 BTU/hr-ft in Fig. 7 correspond to the interface conductance of 5150 BTU/hr-ft -F.
2

With

the burnup of the fuel, radiation swelling will cause this gap to close and somewhat reduce the peak fuel temperature in Fig. 7 temperature in Fig. 7 is 1225F (660C) . The calculated peak

Additional calculations were made to determine the maximum fuel temperature in the ORR test of the 16-rod TRIGA cluster as a function of the power generated in a TRIGA rod. The design constraint used for this analysis was

to maintain the maximum fuel temperature <750C.

A maximum fuel temperature of 750C is not a safety-based limiting value.

The

750C temperature has been used as a design basis value based on fuel swelling considerations. Resulting average fuel temperatures yield rather insignificant

calculated fuel growth from temperature-dependent ("offset swelling") irradiation effects. The temperature constraint requires setting a power level in the rod such that the effects of variations in the fuel-clad gap thickness and gap conductance are accounted for. It is concluded that within the design tolerance of the fuel-clad radial cold gap a rod power of kO kW would assure that the fuel temperature will be less than 750C.

The results of the analysis are presented in Fig. 9 which shows the maximum fuel temperature as a function of the initial cold gap thickness for several

4-27

45 kW/rod

40 kW/rod

35 kW/rod

30 kW/rod

/,6

i.y

>\

Cold Gap-Mi Is

Fig. 9 - 16-rod TRIGA fuel maximum fuel temperature versus cold gap. He pressure - 0.2 atm. Axial peaking factor = 1.256. '

4-28

power levels within a rod.

It was assumed in these calculations that the

gap was filled with helium at a pressure of 0.2 atmosphere which is the minimum amount specified. A larger quantity of helium in the gap will cause The tolerances

the maximum fuel temperature to be less by no more than 10C.

on the gap thickness itself are from 0.5 to 1.25 mils (indicated by the horizontal bar). It can be seen that for the minimum gap the maximum fuel At the temperature will be 600C if the power generated in the rod is kO kW.

other end of the gap thickness range 700C is achieved at a rod power of kO kW. For a given power the change in fuel temperature over the range of the gap thickness is about 100C.

What Really Happened

The TRIGA-LEU fuel began its irradiation in the ORR in mid-December, 1979The maximum measured operating temperatures are about h00C and 350C for the kS and 30 vjt-% U fuel, respectively. value. This is about 60 to 65% of the expected

Measurements of the coolant temperature rise through the cluster

(by means of an instrumented special dummy rod), and use of the measured flow rate of about 300 gpm (based on the measured pressure drop across the core) have enabled the cluster power generation to be evaluated at about 250 kW, or about 65% of the design value. Reasons for the lower than expected

power are still being evaluated and a proposal has been submitted for rearrangement of the fuel rods within the cluster to raise the powers and temperatures in the TRIGA-LEU fuel.

Many of the fuel rods have been removed from the cluster for inspection and rearrangement (switching positions of equally loaded fuel rods) and no growth, swelling, or bending problems have been detected.

4-29