Examination of 3013 Containers Baseline Surface Features

Duque, Juan G. [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)] (ORCID:0000000342271151); Jacobsen, Daniel Eric [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)] (ORCID:0000000341026947); Kelly, Elizabeth J. [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)] (ORCID:0000000176430371); Berg, John M. [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)] (ORCID:0000000265333573); Kaufeld, Kimberly Ann [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)] (ORCID:0000000215991017); Narlesky, Joshua Edward [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)] (ORCID:0000000293122052)

doi:10.2172/2515642

DOE OSTI · 2515642

Examination of 3013 Containers Baseline Surface Features

Duque, Juan G. [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)] (ORCID:0000000342271151)·Jacobsen, Daniel Eric [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)] (ORCID:0000000341026947)·Kelly, Elizabeth J. [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)] (ORCID:0000000176430371)·Berg, John M. [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)] (ORCID:0000000265333573)·Kaufeld, Kimberly Ann [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)] (ORCID:0000000215991017)·Narlesky, Joshua Edward [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)] (ORCID:0000000293122052)

View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

The Surveillance and Monitoring Program at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) was tasked with evaluating the baseline features of 3013 containers. This baseline is to be used as a basis for comparison for 3013 containers that had been packaged with corrosive plutonium materials. The LANL team evaluated an unwelded container, an unused welded container, and a welded container that had held plutonium metal without any corrosive impurities. These three containers had features with depths no larger than 6 µm and had similar depth distributions. The features observed in the baseline containers were all shallower than those seen in containers packaged with corrosive plutonium materials. This work establishes workflows for feature identification and measurement, as well as establishment of baseline data for future comparison with corroded containers.

Explore related subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeX RIS

Duque, Juan G. [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)] (ORCID:0000000342271151), Jacobsen, Daniel Eric [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)] (ORCID:0000000341026947), Kelly, Elizabeth J. [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)] (ORCID:0000000176430371), Berg, John M. [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)] (ORCID:0000000265333573), Kaufeld, Kimberly Ann [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)] (ORCID:0000000215991017), Narlesky, Joshua Edward [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)] (ORCID:0000000293122052). 2025-01-01. Examination of 3013 Containers Baseline Surface Features. https://doi.org/10.2172/2515642

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related reports

DOE OSTI2026

Evaluating transient fission gas release in high burnup light water reactor fuel during loss of coolant accident conditions via new capabilities

In this work, the role of transient fission gas release (tFGR) in the cladding burst behavior of high burnup fuel during a loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) in commercial light water reactors was further investigated via the use of a new apparatus. During the LOCA-related temperature ramps of high burnup fuel, the release of fission gases exceeds the steady-state release observed under normal operating conditions. An enhancement was made to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Severe Accident Test Station (SATS) to probe the various factors influencing tFGR. Experiments were performed on commercially irradiated, zirconium-clad uranium dioxide fuel, and this paper details the design of the experimental setup, the initial test results, and the subsequent post-test analyses. Notably, the first test on high burnup fuel demonstrated a LOCA-relevant tFGR of 5.3% from an unpressurized fuel segment. The ultimate tFGR was 10.7% for beyond LOCA conditions. A follow-up test on similar fuel revealed a tFGR of 12.6% under comparable conditions. Microstructural analysis and an analysis of the released gas provide some insight regarding the source of tFGR in the fuel. Finally, a grain boundary bubble model may aid in the interpretation of the results and offer a guide for future work.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

DOE OSTI2026

Nondestructive Assessment of Potentially Contaminated DUF6

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

DOE OSTI2026

Characterization of ceramic fuel powder packing fractions to support INFLUX

Triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS)-based structures show marked potential in novel nuclear reactor fuel designs, as their high surface area-to-volume ratio increases the efficiency of heat transfer out of the fuel, enabling safer, more innovative reactor designs. This milestone report addresses the role of dUO 2 powder processing route on the fill behavior of TPMS-based cladding shells to understand and advance the feasibility of manufacturing TPMS-based nuclear fuel forms. dUO 2 powder was processed through either a dry granulation route, varying consolidation pressure, or through milling, varying milling time, milling method and milled size distribution. The lowest tapped bulk densities (TBD), but best powder flowabilities, were obtained when testing unprocessed dUO 2 powder which was prone to self-agglomeration and formed low-density spheroids. The highest TBD and lowest flowabilities were obtained when using powder produced by hammer-milling dUO 2 powder to pass through a 200-mesh sieve, which led to particles with angular morphologies. Powder produced by dry granulation exhibited TBD that varied according to the consolidation pressure used to form the initial pellets and exhibited improved flowabilities when compared to hammer-milled material. Because of the large span of granule sizes formed as well as the irregular shape associated with the granules, a packing fraction of 0.69 was achieved, exceeding the analytical solution for random close packing of mono-sized spheres. TPMS polymer shells were loaded with unprocessed, granulated, and hammer-milled dUO 2 powders, and their qualitative packing behaviors were analyzed using x-ray computed tomography (xCT). TBDs calculated after loading TPMS polymer shells were 10-20% lower when compared to tapped bulk density measurements taken in a glass graduated cylinder, indicating a non-trivial impact on the tapped bulk density of either the TPMS channel size, TPMS channel surface material, powder cohesiveness, or a combination of the two parameters. A metallic zircaloy-4 TPMS shell will be loaded with hammer-milled dUO 2 powder upon receipt of the shell from Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and shipped to Idaho National Labs (INL) for subsequent hot isostatic pressing (HIP) densification experiments.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗