b'2.4 LWR IRRADIATION TESTING & PIE TECHNIQUESMiniFuel Irradiation of LWR Fuel ConceptsPrincipal Investigator: Christian Petrie, ORNLTeam Members/ Collaborators: Joseph Burns, Annabelle Le Coq, Alicia Raftery, Robert Morris, Jason Harp,Andrew Nelson and Kurt Terrani (ORNL)for fuel qualification that relies on the integration of accelerated, separate effects irradiation tests with modern modelling and simulation tools to rapidly acquire a more fundamental understanding of fuel performance prior to the execution of confirmatory integral tests.Project Description:The objectives of this work are to establish a separate effects irradiation testing capability at the High Flow Isotope Reactor (HFIR) to support accelerated fuel qualification and to demonstrate this new testing Figure 1. Uranium mononitrideO ne of the major limitingcapability experimentally. The (UN) kernels tested in the initialsteps to qualifying a newtests should enable rapid burnup MiniFuel irradiation experimentfuel system is acquiring (photography credit to Carlosaccumulation under highly controlled Jones/Oak Ridge Nationalirradiation performance data.experiment conditions to facilitate Laboratory (ORNL), U.S.Historically this involved performinga more fundamental understanding Department of Energy (DOE)). large, expensive, integral testingof nuclear fuel performance. This under prototypic conditions. Whilecontrasts with the historical approach this approach has been successful, itwhere performance data were largely is no longer economically feasibleacquired only from complex integral and the long timeframe (approachingtests that did not have the ability to 25 years) discourages the adoption ofisolate specific fuel phenomena. The new fuel technologies. This motivatesexperimental facility should have the need to accelerate fuel irradiationthe ability to perform economical testing and adopt a new approachtesting of many fuel specimens and have the flexibility to accommodate 94 2019|AFC ACCOMPLISHMENTS'