United States and Japan: Working on Global Energy Security

Idaho National Laboratory developed a device to test experiments with advanced reactor fuels at its Transient Reactor Test Facility (TREAT).

By: María Ramírez

The project to build the new experimental device is a joint venture between the United States and Japan. This facility will conduct the world's first transient test of fast reactor fuels in over two decades.

The specialized device houses fuel experiments at TREAT, simulating fast reactor conditions during postulated accident conditions. It also contains the state-of-the-art instrumentation necessary to monitor the real-time fuel response to these conditions. In addition, the laboratory recently completed initial testing of the newly developed capsule.

TREAT is one of the few reactors designed to cause nuclear fuels to fail in a controlled environment. The test reactor produces sudden bursts of energy, known as transients, five times more powerful than a commercial power plant to allow scientists to examine fuel performance.

THE ENERGY SECURITY SOUGHT BY EVERY COUNTRY CREATES NEW METHODS AND RESEARCH.

Scientists focus on transient experiments with high burnup materials archived from historical EBR-II irradiation tests. These tests include the mixed oxide fuel used by Japanese and French fast reactor designs and the metal alloy fuel preferred by the United States. The lab has reused fuel pins inherited from its old EBR-II reactor to achieve the experimental commissioning tests.

The energy security sought by every country creates new methods and research. That's why the experiments help global research on fast reactor fuel safety and are part of a four-year cost-sharing initiative for the facilities conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Japan Atomic Energy Agency. It will all be done within the Civil Nuclear Energy Research and Development Working Group framework.

In more than 20 years worldwide, no such irradiated transient experiments of this kind have been seen. Hence the importance of the INL capsule, which also brings new testing capabilities to TREAT that will help advance fuel performance research for sodium-cooled fast reactors.

"The execution of these unique experiments is an important step toward developing worldwide confidence in the improved performance and safety of advanced nuclear reactor technologies. It is also a remarkable example of how critical international collaborations will enable the next generation of energy technology development," said Dr. Daniel Wachs, national technical director of the U.S. Advanced Fuels Campaign.

The collaboration between DOE and JAEA has been going well for decades. The two countries had already conducted such tests with high burnup reactor fuels in the late 1980s. Now, the international team is conducting tests to complete the development of advanced technologies first envisioned more than 30 years ago. Their work will enable deployment and provide a launching point for further collaborations with emerging reactor developers.

INL expects the first transient test to begin in February, and they are currently working on loading the first of four irradiated fuel experiments at TREAT.