Final test operations report: capsule P13N

A capsule containing fuel specimens and core materials was inserted into the I-13-SW position of the engineering test reactor (ETR) core at Aerojet Nuclear Company, Idaho Falls, Idaho, on January 19, 1972. The irradiation part of the experiment was completed on January 6, 1973. The capsule received a peak fast fluence (E greater than 0.18 MeV)/sub ETR/ of 5.3 x 1021 n/cm2 and a peak thermal fluence of 3.6 x 1021 n/cm2. The primary specimens irradiated in capsule P13N 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 in 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 P13N capsule presented delineate the environmental conditions to which the fuel samples were subjected