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Conference Spotlight
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.
John K. Long
Nuclear Technology | Volume 10 | Number 1 | January 1971 | Pages 17-21
Technical Paper and Note | Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT71-A30943
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Except for irradiation experiments, EBR-II is fueled with a metal alloy of uranium and fission products called fissium. At room temperature and up to 550°C the metallurgical phase of the fuel corresponds to the phase designated as alpha uranium. Recent operations with EBR-II up to 62.5 MW have raised some fuel temperatures to levels at which the metal fuel undergoes a phase change from the alpha phase to the gamma phase. The gamma phase of fissium has a significantly lower density, which is reflected in the calculated power coefficient of the reactor. A calculation of the internal fuel temperature, taking into account the variation of thermal conductivity with irradiation-induced swelling, has led to a calculated effect of the gamma phase on the power coefficient. This calculated effect agrees with observations during reactor operation.