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Braase, Lori

Publications and source records attributed to Braase, Lori.

GAIN Fuel Safety Research Workshop

The Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) Fuel Safety Research Workshop was held in Idaho Falls, Idaho, at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) meeting center in the Energy Innovation Laboratory (EIL). The purpose of the workshop was to gather fuel safety research needs from the broad range of industrial nuclear technology users and developers. The needs will be analyzed relative to the national laboratory capabilities to help inform program planning and funding. The workshop provided a forum to learn about transient testing from a research and regulatory perspective and tour participation of the Transient Reactor Test Facility (TREAT), Advanced Test Reactor (ATR), and Materials and Fuels Complex (MFC).

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DRAFT: Accident Tolerant Fuels Draft Implementation Plan

The ATF Implementation Plan integrates DOE’s objectives and goals with the national laboratory’s expertise and infrastructure in support of the technology development by three industry partners. DOE’s plan is to develop advanced LWR fuels with enhanced accident tolerance in response to the Congressional request and to install a lead fuel assembly containing accident tolerant fuel technology in a U.S. commercial nuclear power plant by 2022. DOE has three contracts in place with each of the principle US commercial nuclear fuel vendors in support of ATF research and development, AREVA Services LLC, General Electric, and Westinghouse LLC. The purpose of the ATF Implementation Plan is to describe the technology development and progress required to insert one (or possible two) concepts as a LFR or LFA in a commercial LWR by 2022. In particular, this document shows the integration between the functional documents guiding ATF development and provides a rough order of magnitude estimate of the required budget from FY2016 through FY2022. It is expected that after FY2022, the needed budget request would significantly decrease as works transitions from Phase 2 to Phase 3, corresponding to a decrease in DOE project responsibility and an increase in industry responsibility and associated funding support.

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Thermal Properties Measurement Report

The Thermal Properties Measurement Report summarizes the research, development, installation, and initial use of significant experimental thermal property characterization capabilities at the INL in FY 2015. These new capabilities were used to characterize a U 3 Si 2 (candidate Accident Tolerant) fuel sample fabricated at the INL. The ability to perform measurements at various length scales is important and provides additional data that is not currently in the literature. However, the real value of the data will be in accomplishing a phenomenological understanding of the thermal conductivity in fuels and the ties to predictive modeling. Thus, the MARMOT advanced modeling and simulation capability was utilized to illustrate how the microstructural data can be modeled and compared with bulk characterization data. A scientific method was established for thermal property measurement capability on irradiated nuclear fuel samples, which will be installed in the Irradiated Material Characterization Laboratory (IMCL).

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Thermal Properties Capability Development Workshop Summary to Support the Implementation Plan for PIE Thermal Conductivity Measurements

The Department of Energy (DOE)-Office of Nuclear Energy (NE), Idaho National Laboratory (INL), and associated nuclear fuels programs have invested heavily over the years in infrastructure and capability development. With the current domestic and international need to develop Accident Tolerant Fuels (ATF), increasing importance is being placed on understanding fuel performance in irradiated conditions and on the need to model and validate that performance to reduce uncertainty and licensing timeframes. INL’s Thermal Properties Capability Development Workshop was organized to identify the capability needed by the various nuclear programs and list the opportunities to meet those needs. In addition, by the end of fiscal year 2015, the decision will be made on the initial thermal properties instruments to populate the shielded cell in the Irradiated Materials Characterization Laboratory (IMCL).

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Advanced Fuels Campaign FY 2014 Accomplishments Report

The mission of the Advanced Fuels Campaign (AFC) is to perform Research, Development, and Demonstration (RD&D) activities for advanced fuel forms (including cladding) to enhance the performance and safety of the nation’s current and future reactors; enhance proliferation resistance of nuclear fuel; effectively utilize nuclear energy resources; and address the longer-term waste management challenges. This includes development of a state-of-the art Research and Development (R&D) infrastructure to support the use of a “goal-oriented science-based approach.” In support of the Fuel Cycle Research and Development (FCRD) program, AFC is responsible for developing advanced fuels technologies to support the various fuel cycle options defined in the Department of Energy (DOE) Nuclear Energy Research and Development Roadmap, Report to Congress, April 2010. AFC uses a “goal-oriented, science-based approach” aimed at a fundamental understanding of fuel and cladding fabrication methods and performance under irradiation, enabling the pursuit of multiple fuel forms for future fuel cycle options. This approach includes fundamental experiments, theory, and advanced modeling and simulation. The modeling and simulation activities for fuel performance are carried out under the Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) program, which is closely coordinated with AFC. In this report, the word “fuel” is used generically to include fuels, targets, and their associated cladding materials. R&D of light water reactor (LWR) fuels with enhanced accident tolerance is also conducted by AFC. These fuel systems are designed to achieve significantly higher fuel and plant performance to allow operation to significantly higher burnup, and to provide enhanced safety during design basis and beyond design basis accident conditions. The overarching goal is to develop advanced nuclear fuels and materials that are robust, have high performance capability, and are more tolerant to accident conditions than traditional fuel systems. AFC management and integration activities included continued support for international collaborations, primarily with France, Japan, the European Union, Republic of Korea, and China, as well as various working group and expert group activities in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Nuclear Energy Agency (OECD-NEA) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Three industry-led Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) and two university-led Integrated Research Projects (IRPs), funded in 2013, made significant progress in fuels and materials development. All are closely integrated with AFC and Accident Tolerant Fuels (ATF) research. Accomplishments made during fiscal year (FY) 2014 are highlighted in this report, which focuses on completed work and results. The process details leading up to the results are not included; however, the lead technical contact is provided for each section.

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Advanced fuels campaign 2013 accomplishments

The mission of the Advanced Fuels Campaign (AFC) is to perform Research, Development, and Demonstration (RD&D) activities for advanced fuel forms (including cladding) to enhance the performance and safety of the nation’s current and future reactors; enhance proliferation resistance of nuclear fuel; effectively utilize nuclear energy resources; and address the longer-term waste management challenges. This includes development of a state-of-the art Research and Development (R&D) infrastructure to support the use of “goal-oriented science-based approach.” In support of the Fuel Cycle Research and Development (FCRD) program, AFC is responsible for developing advanced fuels technologies to support the various fuel cycle options defined in the Department of Energy (DOE) Nuclear Energy Research and Development Roadmap, Report to Congress, April 2010. Accomplishments made during fiscal year (FY) 2013 are highlighted in this report, which focuses on completed work and results. The process details leading up to the results are not included; however, the technical contact is provided for each section.

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Enhanced Accident Tolerant LWR Fuels: Metrics Development

The Department of Energy (DOE) Fuel Cycle Research and Development (FCRD) Advanced Fuels Campaign (AFC) is conducting research and development on enhanced Accident Tolerant Fuels (ATF) for light water reactors (LWRs). This mission emphasizes the development of novel fuel and cladding concepts to replace the current zirconium alloy-uranium dioxide (UO2) fuel system. The overall mission of the ATF research is to develop advanced fuels/cladding with improved performance, reliability and safety characteristics during normal operations and accident conditions, while minimizing waste generation. The initial effort will focus on implementation in operating reactors or reactors with design certifications. To initiate the development of quantitative metrics for ATR, a LWR Enhanced Accident Tolerant Fuels Metrics Development Workshop was held in October 2012 in Germantown, MD. This paper summarizes the outcome of that workshop and the current status of metrics development for LWR ATF.

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Advanced Fuels Campaign Cladding & Coatings Meeting Summary

The Fuel Cycle Research and Development (FCRD) Advanced Fuels Campaign (AFC) organized a Cladding and Coatings operational meeting February 12-13, 2013, at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Representatives from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), national laboratories, industry, and universities attended the two-day meeting. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss advanced cladding and cladding coating research and development (R&D); review experimental testing capabilities for assessing accident tolerant fuels; and review industry/university plans and experience in light water reactor (LWR) cladding and coating R&D.

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Enhanced Accident Tolerant LWR Fuels National Metrics Workshop Report

The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE), in collaboration with the nuclear industry, has been conducting research and development (R&D) activities on advanced Light Water Reactor (LWR) fuels for the last few years. The emphasis for these activities was on improving the fuel performance in terms of increased burnup for waste minimization and increased power density for power upgrades, as well as collaborating with industry on fuel reliability. After the events at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant in Japan in March 2011, enhancing the accident tolerance of LWRs became a topic of serious discussion.

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Advanced Fuels Campaign 2012 Accomplishments

The Advanced Fuels Campaign (AFC) under the Fuel Cycle Research and Development (FCRD) program is responsible for developing fuels technologies to support the various fuel cycle options defined in the DOE Nuclear Energy Research and Development Roadmap, Report to Congress, April 2010. The fiscal year 2012 (FY 2012) accomplishments are highlighted below. Kemal Pasamehmetoglu is the National Technical Director for AFC.

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Meeting Summary Advanced Light Water Reactor Fuels Industry Meeting

The Advanced LWR Fuel Working Group first met in November of 2010 with the objective of looking 20 years ahead to the role that advanced fuels could play in improving light water reactor technology, such as waste reduction and economics. When the group met again in March 2011, the Fukushima incident was still unfolding. After the March meeting, the focus of the program changed to determining what we could do in the near term to improve fuel accident tolerance. Any discussion of fuels with enhanced accident tolerance will likely need to consider an advanced light water reactor with enhanced accident tolerance, along with the fuel. The Advanced LWR Fuel Working Group met in Washington D.C. on October 72-18, 2011 to continue discussions on this important topic.

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Advanced Fuels Campaign Execution Plan (Revision 1)

The purpose of the Advanced Fuels Campaign (AFC) Execution Plan is to communicate the structure and management of research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) activities within the Fuel Cycle Research and Development (FCRD) program. Included in this document is an overview of the FCRD program, a description of the difference between revolutionary and evolutionary approaches to nuclear fuel development, the meaning of science-based development of nuclear fuels, and the "Grand Challenge" for the AFC that would, if achieved, provide a transformational technology to the nuclear industry in the form of a high performance, high reliability nuclear fuel system. The activities that will be conducted by the AFC to achieve success towards this grand challenge are described and the goals and milestones over the next 20 to 40 year period of research and development are established.

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