The High Stress Experiment HSE 2 in the Dragon Reactor

Automatic translation: The nature of the integral block fuel assembly described as monolithic Even with ideal uniformity of the graphite properties it is disturbed by the fact that it is pressed through a regular pattern of fuel zones or inserted into bores - and cooling channels penetrated. The task of the fuel assembly to generate heat and dissipate it to the cooling gas strong temperature gradients between fuel zones and cooling channels, which in turn generate stresses of various kinds in the graphite body. Knowledge of these stresses, especially the local stress peaks, is extremely important for assessing the chances of survival of a fuel element in the reactor.