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First Report on Apparatus to Simulate In-Reactor Transient Heating Conditions in Oxide Fuel Columns

B. J. Wrona, J. T. A. Roberts, E. Johanson, W. D. Tuohig

Nuclear Technology / Volume 20 / Number 2 / November 1973 / Pages 114-123

Technical Paper / Fuel / dx.doi.org/10.13182/NT73-A31347

An apparatus has been developed that simulates, out-of-reactor, both in-reactor thermal gradients and heating rates in oxide fuel pellet stacks through direct electrical heating. Preliminary results of tests of both steady-state and transient operation indicate that fuel phenomena and fuel microstructures similar to those observed in actual in-reactor transients can be produced.