Non-destructive test of irradiated silicide fuel plate: Visual examination and digital X-ray radiography analysis

Abstract

The development of high density silicide fuels for research reactor RSG-GA Siwabessy has been carried out by increasing the fuel density. The fuel density of U₃Si₂/Al fuels was increased from 2.96 gU/cm³ to 4.8 gU/cm³ with potential effect on the cladding integrity and its geometric stability, so a post-irradiation examination is required. Non-destructive test using digital X-ray radiography and visual inspection are the important test in performance evaluation of irradiated fuels. This research uses U₃Si₂/Al fuel plate with 4.8 gU/cm³ density and 20% burnup as known as CBJJ249. Visual inspection of the fuel surface was performed in hot cell 102 and 103 using a camera through the hot cell window and dedicated manipulator intra-camera. X-ray radiography test was performed in hot cell 103 using digital x-ray radiography apparatus with parameters set at 120 kV and 1000 µA, respectively. The image analysis was later performed using image processor, which involves the process of adjusting image contrast and histogram value to provide homogeneity and dimensional data of fuel plate. Based on visual inspections and digital x-ray radiography test, no significant surface defects and sub-surface defects were found. X-ray radiographic images clearly shows a homogeneous fuel profile. Thus, it can be concluded that the U₃Si₂/Al fuel plate during irradiation on the RSG-GAS core has a very good performance.