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2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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Researchers use one-of-a-kind expertise and capabilities to test fuels of tomorrow
At the Idaho National Laboratory Hot Fuel Examination Facility, containment box operator Jake Maupin moves a manipulator arm into position around a pencil-thin nuclear fuel rod. He is preparing for a procedure that he and his colleagues have practiced repeatedly in anticipation of this moment in the hot cell.
J. H. Kittel, M. Novick, R. F. Buchanan
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 4 | Number 2 | August 1958 | Pages 180-199
doi.org/10.13182/NSE58-A15361
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
As a result of the partial meltdown which occurred in EBR-I on November 29, 1955, it was necessary to remove the core assembly from the reactor and to separate the enriched fuel section from upper and lower unenriched blanket sections. A temporary cave was constructed on top of the reactor in order to remove the core assembly, and at this time about one-fourth of the fuel elements were removed. In order to perform further disassembly operations under less hazardous conditions, the core assembly was shipped from the Idaho Division of Argonne National Laboratory, at the National Reactor Testing Station, to the Lemont, Illinois, site of the Laboratory where disassembly was completed in a protective atmosphere. It was found that about 40 to 50% of the core had melted and reached temperatures ranging between approximately 850° and 1400°C, and that the molten portion had separated into three clearly defined zones characterized by different porosities. Densities of the zones ranged from 2.5 to 15.4 g/cm3, depending upon the degree of porosity. Chemical and mass spectrographic analyses indicated that relatively little mixing occurred in the core during the period in which it was molten, that the fuel alloy which penetrated the blanket sections originated primarily from the outer part of the molten zone, and that the blanket did not enter the molten phase. Observations during disassembly of the core and subsequent simulated meltdown experiments indicated that the porous structure which formed in the molten core could have resulted from the vaporization of entrained NaK.