Study of ageing effect of long-term storage fuel in prototype fast breeder reactor Monju

Kato, Yuko; Umebayashi, Eiji; Okimoto, Yutaka; Okuda, Eiichi; Takayama, Koichi; Ozawa, Takayuki   ; Maeda, Seiichiro ; Matsuzaki, Masaaki; Yoshida, Eiichi; Maeda, Koji  ; Sekine, Takashi 

In order to resume the System Startup Test (SST) of Monju, replacement fuel have to be loaded in exchange for some of initial fuel now loaded in the core to compensate core reactivity lost by decay of Pu-241 in them. The replacement fuel were being stored either in sodium in an ex-vessel storage tank or in air in a storage rack for about 10 years since their fabrication. The initial fuel were irradiated during the SST which was suspended in the end of 1995 and then stayed being loaded in the sodium-circulated core. As this long-term storage and loading may deteriorate mechanical integrity of the assemblies, a study has been made thoroughly on its thermal-hydraulic, structural and material effects on them that might be caused by irradiation in the core, sodium and mechanical environment. The study has shown that the mechanical integrity of them is well maintained even with this long-term storage and loading.