Metallographic follow-up examination of the MOPS A3 irradiation experiment

Automatic translation: The 400 particles examined were in very good condition. Only one had cracks or flaking of the outer PyC coating (Fig. 5). All other particles were in perfect external condition (Fig. 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8). 1 % of the particles had a circumferential crack in the porous inner coating (Fig. 7, 8). The resulting gaps were largely filled by the resulting gaps were largely filled. The cores themselves often show fission gas precipitation (Figs. 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8). The outer coating is visibly optically anisotrophic (Fig. 2). The structure of the coated particles can be seen in Fig. 4 (core, C-fur, porous inner coating, porous SiC coating, high-density outer coating).