Non-destructive oxide thickness measurement for BWR fuel rod "Development of crud removal technique"

Sato, Atsushi; Shiina, Hidenori ; Kataoka, Kentaro*; Otomo, Susumu*; Kakiuchi, Kazuo*; Ohira, Koichi*; Itagaki, Noboru*; Kaminaga, Norihisa; Kimura, Yasuhiko; Suzuki, Kazuhiro; Sampei, Shinichi

Oxide thickness measurements of irradiated fuel rods by eddy current test (ECT) method are generally applied for Post Irradiation Examination. But the oxide thickness of BWR type spent fuel rod by ECT is thicker than that by metallography because of the crud deposited on the fuel rod surface. Normally, the hard crud is not so thick, but the hard crud has magnetic property, and this property causes systematic error on oxide thickness measurement by Estate new crud removal technique which could remove the hard crud without removing oxide layer has been developed.