Post-Irradiation Examination of Activated Materials at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

by Dave Senor (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA)

Friday 4 Nov 2016, 14:15 → 15:30 Europe/Zurich

222/R-001 (CERN)

The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, WA, has a wide range of capabilities and experience for post-irradiation examination (PIE) and testing of nuclear fuels and radioactive materials.  Most PIE studies are done to support nuclear fission and fusion applications, but recently the laboratory started performing work on proton-irradiated materials relevant to accelerator target and window applications.  Work on activated materials can be conducted in a variety of environments, depending on dose rate, such as hot cells, gloveboxes, fume hoods, and bench top settings.  The laboratory has the capability to receive materials in shipping containers as large as spent fuel casks or as small as radioisotope vials.  Fuel rods or irradiation experiment capsules can be disassembled, and samples can be extracted, cataloged, and distributed to testing facilities at PNNL or shipped offsite.  Testing capabilities include rod puncture and gas analysis; physical, mechanical and thermal properties; analytical chemistry; surface science; and microstructural characterization including optical and electron microscopy, XRD, AFM and APT.  The presentation will show examples of recent work that highlight each of these capabilities from cask receipt and capsule disassembly through sample preparation, testing and data analysis. Special emphasis will be placed on PIE capabilities that could be relevant for accelerator materials such as beam intercepting devices of interest to CERN in the framework of the RaDIATE Collaboration.

 

ATS Seminars Organisers: H. Burkhardt (BE), M. Modena (TE), T. Stora (EN)
 

Coffee / tea will be served after the seminar

 

PNNL PIE Capabilities.pdf