Irradiation Environment of the Materials Test Station

Conceptual design of the proposed Materials Test Station (MTS) at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE) is now complete. The principal mission is the irradiation testing of advanced fuels and materials for fast-spectrum nuclear reactor applications. The neutron spectrum in the fuel irradiation region of MTS is sufficiently close to that of fast reactor that MTS can match the fast reactor fuel centerline temperature and temperature profile across a fuel pellet. This is an important characteristic since temperature and temperature gradients drive many phenomena related to fuel performance, such as phase stability, stoichiometry, and fission product transport. The MTS irradiation environment is also suitable in many respects for fusion materials testing. In particular, the rate of helium production relative to atomic displacements at the peak flux position in MTS matches well that of fusion reactor first wall. Nuclear transmutation of the elemental composition of the fusion alloy EUROFER97 in MTS is similar to that expected in the first wall of a fusion reactor.