The Accident Tolerant Fuels campaign demonstrated a need for nuclear fuel pin simulators to further research fuel and cladding combinations that can withstand off normal conditions in light water reactors. The use of a heater rod as a fuel pin simulator greatly reduces the risk involved during testing as no...
Metallic nuclear fuels have long been studied for use in advanced nuclear reactors, with efforts invested in improving the viability of metallic nuclear fuel elements and overall safety of advanced reactor design concepts. During reactor operations, fuel forms undergo restructuring due to a variety of physical phenomena. Expansion of the...
Mechanical vibrations compromise the integrity of key components of thermal power plants. Without careful design, strong resonances during steady state operation can wear these components to the point of failure, leading to an unsafe situation that may force a plant to shut down. The purpose of this research is to...
Current research on the topic of advanced reactor fuel types include the use of ultrahigh density Uranium-Molybdenum fuels, towards their use in high-performance research reactors. These reactors operate with high power densities, and the increased cooling requirements therefore place high relevance on the fluid-structure interaction with these fuel elements; therefore...
The metastable isotope of technetium-99 (Tc-99m) is an important diagnostic tool used in the field of nuclear medicine due to the isotope's 6.0 hour half-life, 140.5 keV γ-decay mechanism, and multiple oxidation states [1,2]. Approximately 70% of the world’s nuclear medicine procedures involve the use of Tc-99m [3]. The conventional...
Occurring in the most challenging nuclear power plant accidents, transient critical heat flux (CHF) is the primary phenomenon that drives peak cladding temperature and ultimately fuel failure. It is unclear whether the use of steady-state CHF correlations can accurately predict the gross thermal-hydraulic perturbations of a blowdown in a large...
Vibration of nuclear power plant components can cause fretting wear and fatigue that can eventually lead to component failure. Flexible, high-aspect ratio components under flow, such as the wire-wrapped cylindrical fuel elements in a liquid metal-cooled fast reactor (LMFR) core, are particularly susceptible to vibration due to their low natural...
The reactivity-initiated accident (RIA) accident has stirred wide interest for the need of designing advanced and high tolerance fuels for next generation nuclear power plants. For pressurized water reactors (PWRs), the accidentally induced reactivity pulse adds transient energy input to the fuel. As a result, boiling may happen locally. Boiling...
Irradiation experiments are a critical aspect of the nuclear fuels and materials qualification process. Determining the flow conditions of these experiments is necessary for understanding response of nuclear components during transient and normal operation. Quality flow data is lacking for cartridge-type irradiation experiments with annular flow natural circulation designs. Data...
In the most challenging nuclear power plant accidents, transient critical heat flux (CHF) is a primary phenomenon that drives peak cladding temperature and ultimately fuel failure. It is not yet determined whether the use of steady-state CHF methods can accurately predict transient CHF under the conditions of a blowdown due...