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CoP presentation breaks down reactor licensing frameworks
The American Nuclear Society’s Risk-informed, Performance-based Principles and Policy Committee (RP3C) recently held another presentation in its monthly Community of Practice (CoP) series. Former RP3C chair N. Prasad Kadambi opened the meeting with brief introductory remarks about the RP3C and the need for new approaches to nuclear design that go beyond conventional and deterministic methods. He then welcomed this month’s speaker: Jon Facemire, senior project manager of new nuclear at the Nuclear Energy Institute, who presented “New Regulatory Frameworks: Part 53, Proposed Part 57, and Considerations for Licensing.”
Simon C. P. Wang, Clayton Collins, Samim Anghaie, E. Dow Whitney
Nuclear Technology | Volume 93 | Number 3 | March 1991 | Pages 399-411
Technical Paper | Material | doi.org/10.13182/NT91-A34534
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Uranium fluoride gases are proposed as primary candidate fuels for ultrahigh-temperature gas core or vapor core reactor systems for a variety of space power applications. In these systems, the peak temperature of the fissioning gas can be as high as 5000 K and the inner wall temperature of the reactor cavity is within the range of 1000 to 2000 K. Two kinds of alumina, sapphire and polycrystal alpha alumina, and CaO partially stabilized zirconia are exposed to uranium hexafluoride gas in temperatures ranging from 973 to 1473 K and from 873 to 1073 K, respectively. Exposure tests are conducted in a UF6 flowing loop with an alumina reaction tube housed in a 1500 K electric-heated furnace.The reaction rates are measured using a discontinuous gravimetric method. The morphology of the exposed surfaces was observed by optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy, and the reaction products were identified by X-ray diffraction and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Results indicate that alumina provides a relatively higher service temperature in UF6 environment. However, due to the highly reactive and chemically aggressive nature of UF6 at high temperatures, the maximum service temperature of alumina for a UF6-based gas core reactor is limited to 1273 K. Zirconia at temperatures above 973 K is not compatible with UF6.