About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2026 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Interrelated Extremes in Materials Degradation for Fission and Fusion Environments
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| Presentation Title |
Simulated Ex-Service SFR Fuel Cladding for Characterization of Degradation Under DGR Groundwater Conditions |
| Author(s) |
Michael Alder, Anjali Sankar, Jun Cao, Xin Pang, Olga Palazhchenko |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Michael Alder |
| Abstract Scope |
Sodium fast reactors (SFRs) use metallic fuel, bonded to the fuel cladding material with liquid sodium metal. HT9, a ferritic-martensitic stainless steel, has been used as cladding material in test SFRs, where fuel-cladding chemical interaction (FCCI) was shown to be the life limiting factor. In this work, HT9 has been induced with FCCI via diffusion couple testing at 650 °C to simulate the ex-service cladding condition. Lanthanide alloys containing Nd, Ce, Pr, and Sm were designed to simulate the fission products of the metallic fuel and cast into small button samples using vacuum arc melting for the diffusion couple testing. SEM and EDS techniques were used to characterize the thickness and chemical composition of the diffusion layer between HT9 and the lanthanide alloys. The obtained HT9 coupons will be used for further cladding degradation experiments in simulated deep geological repository (DGR) groundwater in a worst-case scenario DGR flooding event. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
| Keywords |
Nuclear Materials, |