Irradiation Test in HANARO for an Evaluation of In-Core Performance of the Parts of Nuclear Fuel Assembly

For an evaluation of the neutron irradiation properties of the parts of a nuclear fuel assembly requested by KNFC (Korea Nuclear Fuel Co., Ltd.), the 05M-07U instrumented capsule was designed, fabricated, and successfully irradiated at HANARO. The basic structure of the 05M-07U capsule was based on the 04M-17U capsule which had been successfully irradiated in HANARO as part of the 2004 project. However, because of a limited number of specimens and the budget of one university, the remaining space in the capsule was filled with various KAERI specimens. 88 specimens such as 1x1 spacer grid, spring, buckling, growth and tensile specimens of Zirlo and Inconel alloys were inserted in the capsule. The capsule was composed of 5 stages having many kinds of specimens and an independent electric heater at each stage. During the irradiation test, the temperature of the specimens and the thermal/fast neutron fluences were measured by 14 thermocouples and 5 sets of Ni-Ti-Fe neutron fluence monitors installed in the capsule. The capsule was irradiated in the CT test hole of HANARO of a 30MW thermal output at 270-400 .deg. C up to a fast neutron fluence of 5.7x10{sup 20}(n/cm{sup 2}) (E>1.0MeV). After an irradiation test, the main body of the capsule was cut off at the bottom of the protection tube with a cutting system and it was transported to the IMEF (Irradiated Materials Examination Facility). The irradiated specimens were tested to evaluate the irradiation performance of the parts of a fuel assembly in the IMEF hot cell.