Microstructural characterization of irradiated U-7Mo/Al-5Si dispersion fuel to high fission density

The fuel development program for research and test reactors calls for improved knowledge on the effect of microstructure on fuel performance in reactors. This paper summarizes the recent TEM microstructural characterization of an irradiated U-7Mo/Al-5Si dispersion fuel plate (R3R050) in the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to 5.2 × 1021 fissions/cm3. While a large fraction of the fuel grains is decorated with large bubbles, there is no evidence showing interlinking of these bubbles at the specified fission density. The attachment of solid fission product precipitates to the bubbles is likely the result of fission product diffusion into these bubbles. The process of fission gas bubble superlattice collapse appears through bubble coalescence. The results are compared with the previous TEM work on the dispersion fuels irradiated to lower fission density from the same fuel plate.