PNNL

Abstract

Tri-isotropic (TRISO) particle fuels, being considered for use in various advanced nuclear power reactors, consist of sub-millimeter diameter uranium oxide spheres uniformly coated to prevent the release of fission products into the reactor. About 15 billion of these spheres are needed to fuel a single reactor. Current quality control (QC) methods are manual, can destroy test specimens, and are not economically feasible. Replacing these methods with nondestructive evaluation (NDE) techniques, automated for higher speed, will make fuel production and reactor operation economically feasible, considering the requirement for extremely large fuel particle throughput rates. This paper reports a project to develop and demonstrate nondestructive examination methods to detect and reject defective particles, and in particular progress made in the final year of a Nuclear Energy Research Initiative (NERI) project . The work explored adapting, developing, and demonstrating innovative nondestructive test methods to cost-effectively assure the quality of large percentages of the fuel particles.