EBR-II MOX fuel characterization enabling ARES Phase I testing

Bess, J. D.*; Chipman, A. S.*; Pope, C. L.*; Jensen, C. B.*; Ozawa, Takayuki   ; Hirooka, Shun ; Kato, Masato*

Pretransient characterization was performed for the EBR-II MOX fuel pellets from the SPA-2/-2B Operational Reliability Testing collaboration between Japan and US. The continued collaboration will investigate the transient performance of these rods in TREAT at Idaho National Laboratory. The results will fill a gap in existing transient performance data for MOX as these rods have a peak burnup of ~134.4 GWd/t in the EBR-II. Fuel pellet properties were gathered from available resources and their irradiation and decay history evaluated. Further reactor physics calculations were performed to support the experiment design, reactor operations, and safety analyses necessary to enable the programmatic success. Of the three irradiated fuel pins, two will undergo transient testing, and all three will undergo post-irradiation examination.