Abstract
Different aspects of thorium fuel cycle have been studied for the development of thorium fuel-based Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR) in India. In order to study the irradiation performance of thoria-based mixed oxide (MOX) fuels, short-length fuel pins assembled in two types of fuel clusters were irradiated in the pressurized water loop (PWL) of CIRUS reactor. Post irradiation examination (PIE) of the fuel pins from the two fuel clusters was carried out at the hot cells facility of BARC. Non-destructive examinations of the fuel pins from the cluster included visual examination, leak testing, fuel pin diameter measurement, ultrasonic testing, eddy current testing, gamma scanning and gamma spectrometry. Destructive examinations included fission gas analysis and microstructural examination. Microstructural characterization on the fuel samples was carried out using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, β-γ autoradiography and α-autoradiography techniques. Results of PIE show good performance of the fuel up to 18.5 GWd/t(HM) burn-up under irradiation. This paper presents the salient observations of the examinations carried out on the pins of the fuel clusters.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Atomic Energy in India: A Perspective. Government of India, Department of Atomic Energy, Sept 2003
Thorium Fuel Cycle—Potential Benefits and Challenges. IAEA-TECDOC-1450, May 2005
P. Mishra, H.N. Singh, V.P. Jathar, R.S. Shriwastaw, P.M. Satheesh, P.B. Kondejkar, G.K. Mallik, J.L. Singh, S. Anantharaman, Irradiation Behaviour of Th–Pu and U–Pu MOX Fuels, in Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on CANDU Fuel, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, 15–18 Sept 2013
P. Mishra, J.L. Singh, J.S. Dubey, K.M. Pandit, V.P. Jathar, B.N. Rath, P.M. Satheesh, R.S. Shriwastaw, P.K. Shah, A. Bhandekar, S. Kumar, P.B. Kondejkar, H.N. Singh, S. Anantharaman, Post Irradiation Examination of Thoria–Plutonia MOX Fuel from AC-6 Cluster, BARC Report, BARC/2014/E/003
M. Karam, F.C. Dimayuga, J. Montin, Post-Irradiation Examination of CANDU fuel bundles fuelled with (Th, Pu)O2, in Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on CANDU Fuel, Niagara Falls, Ontario (2012)
P.G. Boczar, P.S.W. Chan, G.R. Dyck, R.T. Jones, J.D. Sullivan, P. Taylor, Thorium Fuel-Cycle Studies for CANDU Reactors, IAEA Meeting on Thorium Fuel Utilization: Options and Trends, IAEA-TECDOC-1319 (Nov 2002)
G. Horhoianu, G. Olteanu, D.V. Ionescu, Irradiation Behaviour of PHWR Type Fuel Elements Containing UO2 and (Th, U)O2 Pellets, IAEA Technical Meeting on “Fuel integrity during normal operation and accident conditions in pressurized heavy water reactors (PHWRs)”, Romania, Bucharest, 24–27 Sept 2012
H. Stehle, H. Assman, G. Wunderlich, Uranium Dioxide properties for LWR fuel rods. Nucl. Eng. Des. 33, 230–260 (1975)
I. Arimescu, Fuel Swelling Importance in PCI Mechanistic Modelling, in Proceedings of Pellet Clad Interaction in Water Reactor Fuels, France, 9–11 Mar 2004
D.N. Sah, Basic mechanisms of fission gas release and high burn-up issues. Met. Mater. Process. 18(1), 27–34 (2006)
N.F. Harrison, T. Janathasing, F.C. Dimayuga, Post-Irradiation Examination of MOX fuel with varying plutonium homogeneity, in Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on CANDU Fuel, Niagara Falls, Ontario, (2012)
D.R. Olander, Fundamental Aspects of Nuclear Reactor Fuel Elements, Chapter 10, Technical Information Centre, Virginia, USA
D.N. Sah, U.K. Viswanathan, C.S. Viswanadham, K. Unnikrishnan, B.N. Rath, Blind prediction exercise on modeling of PHWR fuel at extended burnup. J. Nucl. Mater. 383, 144–149 (2008)
K. Anantharaman, V. Shivakumar, D. Saha, Utilisation of thorium in reactors. J. Nucl. Mater. 383, 119–121 (2008)
Acknowledgements
The authors express their gratitude to all the colleagues in post irradiation examination division for their assistance in carrying out the hot cell activities. The authors would like to acknowledge the guidance provided by Shri D. N. Sah, Ex. Head, PIED, in preparation of the manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this paper
Cite this paper
Mishra, P. et al. (2019). Irradiation Behaviour of Thoria-Based Fuels. In: Nayak, A., Sehgal, B. (eds) Thorium—Energy for the Future. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2658-5_22
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2658-5_22
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-13-2657-8
Online ISBN: 978-981-13-2658-5
eBook Packages: EnergyEnergy (R0)