Chemical compatibility of sodium exposed alloy D9 with B4C

The control rods in India's first prototype fast breeder reactor (PFBR) would consist of high-density B4C (containing 67% 10B isotope) pellets enclosed in alloy D9 clad tubes. Enriched boron carbide required for control rod applications in PFBR is being produced indigenously by reacting elemental boron with graphite at high temperatures. The gap between the control rod material and the clad is filled with liquid sodium as the pins are of vented type. At the reactor operating temperatures of 773-873 K, the chemical interaction between B4C and D9 clad material surface modified by liquid sodium needs to be investigated and understood. Towards this, out-of-pile accelerated chemical compatibility experiments were carried out and the SEM/EDS, XRD and XPS results of the studies carried out at 973 K for 5000 h are presented in this paper