Developing an interface strength technique using the laser shock method

Abstract

Characterizing the behavior of nuclear reactor plate fuels is vital to the progression of advanced fuel systems. The states of pre- and post-irradiation plates need to be determined effectively and efficiently prior to and following irradiation. Due to the hostile post-irradiation environment, characterization must be completed remotely. Laser-based characterization techniques enable the ability to make robust measurements inside a hot-cell environment. The Laser Shock (LS) technique generates high energy shockwaves that propagate through the plate and mechanically characterizes cladding-cladding interfaces.During an irradiation campaign, two Idaho National Laboratory (INL) fabricated MP-1 plates had a fuel breach in the cladding-cladding interface and trace amounts of fission products were released. The objective of this report is to characterize the cladding-cladding interface strengths in three plates fabricated using different fabrication processes. The goal is to assess the risk in irradiating future developmental and production fuel plates. Prior LS testing has shown weaker and more variability in bond strengths within INL MP-1 reference plates than in commercially produced vendor plates. Three fuel plates fabricated with different fabrication processes will be used to bound the bond strength threshold for plate irradiation insertion and assess the confidence of this threshold value.