Final test operations report: capsule P13P

A capsule containing fuel specimens and core materials was inserted into the J-10-SE position of the Engineering Test Reactor core at the Aerojet Nuclear Company, Idaho Falls, Idaho, on April 1, 1972. The irradiation part of the experiment was completed on April 30, 1973. The capsule received a peak fast fluence (E greater than 0.18 MeV)/sub ETR/ of 8.1 x 1021 n/cm2 and a peak thermal fluence of 3.1 x 1021 n/cm2. The primary specimens irradiated in capsule P13P were fuel rods and unbonded beds of coated fuel particles. The samples contained UC2 , UO2, (Th,U)O2, ThO2, and ThC2 TRISO- and BISO-coated particles with variations in coating density and process parameters. The test specimens were housed by interlocking graphite crucibles inside inconel cans which formed the primary containment for each cell. Five cells were arranged vertically in a stainless steel tube. The thermal, neutronic, and operating histories of the P13P capsule presented delineate the environmental conditions to which the fuel samples were subjected. Tungsten-rhenium thermocouples were placed in the vicinity of the fuel samples to monitor the cell temperature and to provide data for estimating peak fuel temperatures. Temperatures in the graphite were measured by both tungsten-rhenium and chromel-alumel thermocouples. (auth)