Test irradiations of full-sized U3Si2–Al fuel plates up to very high fission densities

In the course of the licensing procedure of the ‘Forschungsneutronenquelle Heinz Maier-Leibnitz’, i.e. the new 20 MW high-flux research reactor FRM II in Garching near Munich, extensive test irradiations have been performed to qualify the U3Si2–Al dispersion fuel with a relatively high density of highly enriched uranium (93 wt% of 235U) up to very high fission densities. Two of the three FRM II type fuel plates used in the irradiation tests contained U3Si2–Al dispersion fuel with HEU densities of 3.0 gU/cm3 or 1.5 gU/cm3 (‘homogeneous plates’) and one plate had two adjacent zones of either density (‘mixed plate’). They were irradiated in the French MTR reactors SILOE and OSIRIS in the years before 2002. The local plate thickness was measured on certain tracks along the plates during interruptions of the irradiation. The maximum fission density obtained in the U3Si2 fuel particles was 1.4 × 1022 f/cm3 and 1.1 × 1022 f/cm3 in the 1.5 gU/cm3 and 3.0 gU/cm3 fuel zones, respectively. In the course of the irradiations, the plate thickness increased monotonically and approximately linearly, leading to a maximum plate thickness swelling of 14% and 21% and a corresponding volume increase of the fuel particles of 106% and 81%, respectively. Our results are discussed and compared with the data from the literature.