Design and operation of equipment used to develop remote coating capability for HTGR fuel particles [electronic resource]

Refabrication of HTGR fuels is a manufacturing process that consists of preparation of fuel kernels, application of multiple layers of pyrolytic carbon and silicon carbide, preparation of fuel rods, and assembly of fuel rods into fuel elements. All the equipment for refabrication of /sup 233/U-conta...

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Bibliographic Details
Online Access: Online Access (via OSTI)
Corporate Author: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Researcher)
Format: Government Document Electronic eBook
Language:English
Published: Oak Ridge, Tenn. : Oak Ridge, Tenn. : Oak Ridge National Laboratory. ; distributed by the Office of Scientific and Technical Information, U.S. Department of Energy, 1978.
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Summary:Refabrication of HTGR fuels is a manufacturing process that consists of preparation of fuel kernels, application of multiple layers of pyrolytic carbon and silicon carbide, preparation of fuel rods, and assembly of fuel rods into fuel elements. All the equipment for refabrication of /sup 233/U-containing fuel must be designed for completely remote operation and maintenance in hot-cell facilities. Equipment to remotely coated HTGR fuel particles has been designed and operated. Although not all of the equipment development needed for a fully remote coating system has been completed, significant progress has been made. The most important component of the coating furnace is the gas distributor, which must be simple, reliable, and easily maintainable. Techniques for loading and unloading the coater and handling microspheres have been developed. An engineering-scale system, currently in operation, is being used to verify the workability of these concepts. Coating crucible handling components are used to remove the crucible from the furnace, remove coated particles, and exchange the crucible, if necessary. After the batch of particles has been unloaded, it is transferred, weighed, and sampled. The components used in these processes have been tested to ensure that no particle breakage or holdup occurs. Tests of the particle handling system have been very encouraging because no major problems have been encountered. Instrumentation that controls the equipment performed very smoothly and reliably and can be operated remotely.
Item Description:Published through SciTech Connect.
12/01/1978.
"ornl/tm-6581"
Suchomel, R.R.; Stinton, D.P.; Preston, M.K.; Heck, J.L.; Bolfing, B.J.; Lackey, W.J.
Physical Description:Pages: 85 : digital, PDF file.