Testing fast reactor fuels in a thermal reactor

•Technical justification and implementation for fast reactor fuel testing in a thermal reactor are presented.•The incident neutron flux is hardened by placing fueled irradiation capsules inside specially designed cadmium shrouds.•Use of cadmium prevents thermal neutrons from reaching the test fuels and alleviates the plutonium self-shielding.•Calculations and post-irradiation examinations show that achieved irradiation conditions are prototypic of a fast reactor. The present lack of a domestic fast neutron flux irradiation capability combined with continued development of fast reactor fuels in the U.S. motivated an innovative engineering solution to utilize a unique neutron flux tailoring capability in the Advanced Test Reactor at the Idaho National Laboratory. To achieve the objectives of the fast reactor fuel irradiation tests, the incident neutron flux was hardened substantially by placing fueled irradiation capsules inside specially designed cadmium shrouds. Use of cadmium prevents thermal neutrons from reaching the fuels being tested and alleviates the plutonium self-shielding that would normally arise during irradiations of high density, highly enriched fuels in a thermal neutron spectrum. The present paper illustrates the profound effect this engineered solution has on the efficacy of the experiments. Based on the comparison of post-irradiation measurements of the columnar grain region in fast reactor mixed-oxide fuels with fuel performance calculations, it is demonstrated that thermal conditions achieved in these cadmium-shrouded fuel experiments are substantially prototypic of a sodium fast reactor and are suitable for concept-screening tests supporting development of new fast reactor fuels. It is also shown that if the experiments were conducted in an unmodified ATR neutron spectrum, gross plutonium self-shielding would cause a strong depression of the fission power at the fuel centerline preventing fuel restructuring, a hallmark feature of mixed oxide fuel behavior under fast reactor conditions. Recognizing the need for testing metallic fuels for fast reactors, the impact of neutron flux energy spectrum on the radial temperature distribution in metallic fuel is investigated. It is shown that the use of Cd shrouds allows to attain radial temperature distributions nearly identical to those that exist in an SFR.