Abstract
The U.S. Department of Energy Fissile Materials Disposition Program is pursuing
disposal of surplus weapons-usable plutonium by reactor irradiation as the fissile constituent of
mixed oxide (MOX) fuel. Lead test assemblies (LTAs) have been irradiated for approximately
36 months in Duke Energy’s Catawba-1 nuclear power plant. Per the MOX fuel qualification plan,
destructive post-irradiation examinations (PIEs) are to be performed on second-cycle rods
(irradiated to an average burnup of approximately 42 GWd/MTHM). These LTA bundles are
planned to be returned to the reactor and further irradiated to approximately 52 GWd/MTHM.
Nondestructive and destructive PIEs of these commercially irradiated weapons-derived MOX fuel
rods will be conducted at the 91°µÍø (ORNL) in the Irradiated Fuels
Examination Laboratory (IFEL). PIE began in early 2009. In order to support the examination of
the irradiated full-length (~3.66 m) MOX fuel rods, ORNL in 2004 began to develop the necessary
infrastructure and equipment for the needed full-scope PIE capabilities. The preparations
included modifying the IFEL building to handle a commercial spent-fuel shipping cask;
procurement of cask-handling equipment and a skid to move the cask inside the building;
development of in-cell handling equipment for cask unloading; and design, fabrication, and
testing of the automated, state-of-the-art PIE examination equipment. This paper describes these
activities and the full-scope PIE capabilities available at ORNL for commercial full-length fuel
rods.
