SEM Characterization of an Irradiated Dispersion Fuel Plate with U-10Mo Particles and 6061 Al Matrix

It has been observed that during irradiation of a dispersion fuel plate, fuel/matrix interactions can impact the overall fuel plate performance. To continue the investigation of the irradiation performance of Si-rich fuel/matrix interaction layers, RERTR-6 fuel plate V1R010 (U- 10Mo/6061 Al) was characterized using scanning electron microscopy. This fuel plate was of particular interest because of its similarities to fuel plate R1R010, which had U-7Mo particles dispersed in 6061 Al. Both fuel plates were irradiated as part of the RERTR-6 experiment and saw very similar irradiation conditions. R1R010 was characterized in another study and was observed to form relatively uniform Si-rich layers during fabrication that remained stable during irradiation. Since U-10Mo does not interact as much with 6061 Al at high temperatures to form layers, it was of interest to characterize a fuel plate with these particles since it would allow for a comparison of fuel plates with different amounts of preirradiation interaction zone formation, which were then exposed to similar irradiation conditions. This paper demonstrates how the lower amount of interaction layer development in V1R010 during fabrication appears to impact the overall performance of the fuel plate, such that it does not behave as well as R1R010 in terms of interaction layer stability. Additionally, the results of this study are applied to improve the understanding of fuel/cladding interactions in monolithic fuel plates that consist of U-10Mo foils encased in 6061 Al cladding.