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DOE OSTI · 3377982

Building a High-Throughput MiniFuel PIE Pipeline for HFIR-Based Advanced Fuel Evaluation

Le Coq, Annabelle G. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:000000016482690X)·Adorno Lopes, Denise [Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0009000237059877)·Trewhitt, Stephen E. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)]·Jones, Matt M. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0000000265894506)·Kendall, Josh T. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0009000052223626)·Doyle, Peter J. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0000000211820034)·Shipulski, Ethan E. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0009000375940283)·McKinney, Casey S. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0000000335383614)·Jordan, Tyson L. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)]·Harp, Jason M. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0000000253458440)·Linton, Kory D. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0000000230024623)
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Abstract

MiniFuel irradiation experiments have become a key capability for accelerated evaluation of advanced and high-burnup nuclear fuels in the High Flux Isotope Reactor. As the number of irradiated MiniFuel targets entering postirradiation examination (PIE) has increased, improvements to the PIE workflow were needed to support more repeatable target disassembly, subcapsule processing, specimen recovery, and downstream measurements. This report summarizes FY 2026 improvements developed and implemented at the Irradiated Fuels Examination Laboratory to improve the MiniFuel target-to-specimen (T2S) workflow and related PIE activities.

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Le Coq, Annabelle G. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:000000016482690X), Adorno Lopes, Denise [Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0009000237059877), Trewhitt, Stephen E. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)], Jones, Matt M. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0000000265894506), Kendall, Josh T. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0009000052223626), Doyle, Peter J. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0000000211820034), Shipulski, Ethan E. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0009000375940283), McKinney, Casey S. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0000000335383614), Jordan, Tyson L. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)], Harp, Jason M. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0000000253458440), Linton, Kory D. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0000000230024623). 2026-07-01. Building a High-Throughput MiniFuel PIE Pipeline for HFIR-Based Advanced Fuel Evaluation. https://doi.org/10.2172/3377982

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