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At least 487 records · Page 27

Progress Letter Report on Bending Fatigue Test System Development for Spent Nuclear Fuel Vibration Integrity Study (Out-of-cell fatigue testing development - Task 2.4)

Vibration integrity of high burn-up spent nuclear fuel in transportation remains to be a critical component of US nuclear waste management system. The structural evaluation of package for spent fuel transportation eventually will need to see if the content or spent fuel is in a subcritical condition. However, a system for testing and characterizing such spent fuel is still lacking mainly due to the complication involved with dealing radioactive specimens in a hot cell environment. Apparently, the current state-of-the-art in spent fuel research and development is quite far away from the delivery of reliable mechanical property data for the assessment of spent fuels in the transport package evaluation.

Spent Nuclear Fuel Vibration Integrity↗

In Situ Decommissioning Sensor Network, Meso-Scale Test Bed - Phase 3 Fluid Injection Test Summary Report

The DOE Office of Environmental management (DOE EM) faces the challenge of decommissioning thousands of excess nuclear facilities, many of which are highly contaminated. A number of these excess facilities are massive and robust concrete structures that are suitable for isolating the contained contamination for hundreds of years, and a permanent decommissioning end state option for these facilities is in situ decommissioning (ISD). The ISD option is feasible for a limited, but meaningful number of DOE contaminated facilities for which there is substantial incremental environmental, safety, and cost benefits versus alternate actions to demolish and excavate the entire facility and transport the rubble to a radioactive waste landfill. A general description of an ISD project encompasses an entombed facility; in some cases limited to the blow-grade portion of a facility. However, monitoring of the ISD structures is needed to demonstrate that the building retains its structural integrity and the contaminants remain entombed within the grout stabilization matrix. The DOE EM Office of Deactivation and Decommissioning and Facility Engineering (EM-13) Program Goal is to develop a monitoring system to demonstrate long-term performance of closed nuclear facilities using the ISD approach. The Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) has designed and implemented the In Situ Decommissioning Sensor Network, Meso-Scale Test Bed (ISDSN-MSTB) to address the feasibility of deploying a long-term monitoring system into an ISD closed nuclear facility.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Complete Phase I Tests As Described in the Multi-lab Test Plan for the Evaluation of CH3I Adsorption on AgZ

Silver-exchanged mordenite (AgZ) has been identified as a potential sorbent for iodine present in the off-gas streams of a used nuclear fuel reprocessing facility. In such a facility, both elemental and organic forms of iodine are released from the dissolver in gaseous form. These species of iodine must be captured with high efficiency for a facility to avoid radioactive iodine release above regulatory limits in the gaseous effluent of the plant. Studies completed at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) examined the adsorption of organic iodine in the form of CH3I by AgZ. Upon breakthrough of the feed gas through the sorbent bed, elemental iodine was observed in the effluent stream, despite the fact that the only source of iodine in the system was the CH3I in the feed gas.1 This behavior does not appear to have been reported previously nor has it been independently confirmed. Thus, as a result of these prior studies, multiple knowledge gaps relating to the adsorption of CH3I by AgZ were identified, and a multi-lab test plan, including Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), INL, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), and Sandia National Laboratories, was formulated to address each in a systematic way.2 For this report, the scope of work for ORNL was further narrowed to three thin-bed experiments that would characterize CH3I adsorption onto AgZ in the presence of water, NO, and NO2. Completion of these three-thin bed experiments demonstrated that organic iodine in the form of CH3I was adsorbed by reduced silver mordenite (Ag0Z) to a 50% higher loading than that of I2 when adsorbed from a dry air stream. Adsorption curves suggest different adsorption mechanisms for I2 and CH3I. In the presence of NO and NO2 gas, the loading of CH3I onto Ag0Z is suppressed and may be reversible. Further, the presence of NO and NO2 gas appears to oxidize CH3I to I2; this is indicated by an adsorption curve similar to that of I2 on Ag0Z. Finally, the loss of organic iodine loading capacity by Ag0Z in the presence of NOx is unaffected by the addition of water vapor to the gas stream; no marked additional loss in capacity or retention was observed.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Conceptual Design and Requirements for Characterization and Field Test Boreholes: Deep Borehole Field Test

Deep Borehole Disposal (DBD) of high-level radioactive wastes has been considered an option for geological isolation for many years (Hess et al. 1957). Recent advances in drilling technology have decreased costs and increased reliability for large-diameter (i.e., ≥50 cm [19.7”]) boreholes to depths of several kilometers (Beswick 2008; Beswick et al. 2014). These advances have therefore also increased the feasibility of the DBD concept (Brady et al. 2009; Cornwall 2015), and the current field test, introduced herein, is a demonstration of the DBD concept and these advances.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Steam Oxidation and Burst Testing in the Severe Accident Test Station

Within six months of the March 2011 nuclear accident at Fukushima Daiichi, research began at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to simulate the high temperature steam oxidation accident conditions and identify potential accident tolerant fuel (ATF) cladding [1-14]. The ORNL laboratory equipment for steam oxidation equipment was expanded and made available to the entire ATF research community as the Severe Accident Test Station (SATS) in 2012 [5,1 5], including the capability to conduct the standard integral loss of coolant accident (LOCA) experiment [9]. A second SATS has now been deployed in an ORNL hot cell for handling irradiated specimens including reprocessed UO 2 /Zr fuel [16].

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Metal Bellows Valve Reliability Testing - Copper Stem Tip Testing

SRNL was funded in Mid-Year FY20 by NNSA NA-231 to continue evaluation of alternate valves for use in tritium service to support domestic Mo-99 production. The focus of the effort was to identify valve cycle life as a function of actuator size and stem tip material. Using the minimum size actuator to reliability open and close valves can reduce glovebox size and thus support domestic companies to “come to market” faster in supplying Mo-99 to the US market. This report serves as a continuation to the FY19 report and summarizes the task activities completed in FY20 after authorization to start work was obtained on May 5 th , 2020. Copper stem tips were tested on the Swagelok 1C and 5C actuated metal bellows valves. With ambitions to cycle each set 150,000 times, both 1C and 5C valves were met with high failure rates. The smaller 1C actuated valves required additional closing pressure to form a seal with the Cu stem tips installed however, excessive stem tip deformation may be the root cause of the majority of the valves failing before 500 cycles. The larger 5C actuated valves were cycled 150,000 times but still resulted in 80% failure rate, suspected of metal fatigue in the bellows due to high cycling frequencies.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Annual Performance Testing of Tracer Gas Detectors for use in Radionuclide NESHAP Compliance Testing

Los Alamos National Laboratory’s (LANL’s) compliance with Radionuclide NESHAP0F 1 regulations is managed by the Radioactive Air Emissions Management (RAEM) team, part of LANL’s Compliance Programs group (EPC-CP). One area of the Radionuclide NESHAP addresses requirements for siting a stack sample system. Prior to commissioning a new stack sampling system, the ANSI Standard for stack sampling requires that the stack sample location must meet several criteria, including uniform mixing of tracer gas (sulfur hexafluoride, SF 6 ) and tracer aerosol (liquid oil droplets) in the air stream. This memorandum will specifically focus on the tracer gas portion of the ANSI Standard. For these mix tests, tracer gas is injected into the stack air stream and the resulting air concentrations are measured across the plane of the stack at the proposed sampling location. The coefficient of variation of the media concentration must be under 20% when evaluated over the central 2/3 area of the stack or duct.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

FY25 Report on Water NSTF Testing: Parametric and Accident Testing with Lower Tank Inlet

The Natural Convection Shutdown Heat Removal Test Facility (NSTF) at Argonne National Laboratory has continued to generate empirical validation data on the performance of water-based reactor cavity cooling system (RCCS) for seven years. This data is actively being used to support the development of passive decay heat removal systems for advanced reactors. Distinguishing this facility are 1) the large, ½ scale of the facility and 2) its governance under an NQA-1 qualified program for producing data of the highest pedigree for advanced reactor designers and regulators. In addition to the experimental activities discussed in this report, a computational modeling program continues to support the experimental program and further accuracy and understanding of the computational models. Together, the experimental and computational work create a mutually beneficial relationship integral to the overall program objective of advancing the understanding of the RCCS technology.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

Small Scale Melter Testing of HLW Algorithm Glasses: Matrix 1 Tests

The principal objectives of the DM100 tests were to determine the effects of glass property extremes (glass viscosity, electrical conductivity, and T1%), minimum and maximum concentrations of several major and minor glass components, +/-15% batching errors in the addition of Glass Forming Chemicals (GFCs) to the feed, and variation in the sources of boron and sodium used in the GFCs on processing rates and melter conditions (off-gas characteristics, glass processing, foaming, cold cap, etc.) at constant bubbling rate.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Advanced Test Reactor Neutron Dosimetry Report - Cycle 175C: Results of Neutron Dosimetry Measurements for the Advanced Test Reactor Cycle 175C

Results of neutron dosimetry measurements in ATR for cycle 175C are presented. A single set of cobalt and nickel wires were installed in numerous irradiation locations for the duration of the cycle. The specific activity of these wire segments can be used in conjunction with the presented cycle history information to determine the thermal- and fast-neutron fluence rates for each irradiation position during the cycle using the referenced standard test methods.

73 - NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Identifying High Burnup LOCA Test Conditions to Support LOCA Testing

Presentation summarizing work done by INL and ORNL investigating loss-of-coolant accidents involving high burnup fuel. This includes developing LOCA test conditions for TREAT and SATS experiments and highlighting potential differences between nuclear and electrical heating LOCA experiments.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗