Abstracts and Available Papers Presented at the
2004 International RERTR Meeting

PIE OF THE 2ND IRRADIATION TEST (KOMO-2) FOR THE ATOMIZED U-MO DISPERSION ROD FUELS AT KAERI

C.K. Kim, H.J. Ryu, D.B. Lee, S.J Oh, K.H Kim, J.M Park, Y.S. Choo, D.G. Park, H.T. Chae, C.S. Lee, D.S Sohn
KAERI 150 Duckjin-dong, Yuseong-ku, Daejeon city, Korea

ABSTRACT
 

Two U-7wt.%Mo dispersion fuel rods with different fuel particle sizes, two U-7wt.%Mo dispersion fuel rods surface-treated with pre-oxidation and Ni coating, one U-7wt.%Mo dispersion fuel rod with a poison material of Er2O3, a U-9wt.%Mo dispersion fuel rod, and a U3Si dispersion fuel rod were loaded in the KOMO-test (the 2nd irradiation test of U-Mo fuels in HANARO by KAERI). In addition, the monolithic U-Mo ring fuel was loaded to develop higher U-density fuel. The fuel assembly with the above 10 fuel rods was irradiated in HAHARO successfully from January 9, 2003 to January 27, 2004. After cooling them for about 3 months, the PIE has been performed. Most of the fuel particles were interacted with the Al matrix in the central area of the rod-type U-Mo dispersion fuels with a high linear power and a higher burnup than 60 at.%. Some large pores were observed between the particles in the central area of the fuel rods. However the swellings of the fuel meats are not large, at less than 17 %. The fuel of a larger particle-size distribution showed a better stability than the fuel of a smaller particle-size distribution. Any surface treatments were observed to have no improvement on the oxidation layer formation of the cladding surface. U3Si dispersion fuel used as a reference showed a much lesser interaction with the matrix Al when compared with the U-Mo dispersion fuel. In an examination for the tubular monolithic U-Mo fuel abnormal phenomena such as many bubbles and a large swelling happened due to an unexpected contamination of the silicon from the quartz tube used for a mold during melting & casting process.

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