Overview and current status of the experimental capacity of the LECI hotlab facility

C. Blandin (1) , B. Verhaeghe (1) , A. Lopez (1) , C. Ritter (1) , L. Rancoeur (1) , P. Gavoille (1) , B. Tanguy (1) , J.D. Lulewicz (1)

1 CEA-DES (ex-DEN) - CEA-Direction des Energies (ex-Direction de l'Energie Nucléaire)

This paper presents the experimental capabilities dedicated to the characterization of irradiated materials behavior in normal, accidental and storage conditions of the CEA Saclay LECI hotlab facility. The main objective of the LECI facility, that operates 45 hotcells, is to provide metallurgical, mechanical and physico-chemical data on irradiated materials (from fuel assembly, core structure, and vessel) in support to the operation of light water reactors as well as the development of future nuclear systems and research reactors. Specifically, a comprehensive review of the available equipment which can be used to characterize a broad range of properties of irradiated materials mainly for Gen2et3 / Gen IV nuclear applications is presented. These data are then used to identify normal, accidental or storage conditions behavior laws and models able to predict the in-service lifetime of the materials.The mechanical properties are characterized through a complete set of mechanical testing such as tensile, creep and burst tests. Specific experiments have been developed in order to obtain the mechanical properties in axial, circumferential and biaxial conditions, or to simulate LOCA or RIA transients. Fine metrology tools give access to dimensional variations at the micrometric scale after various irradiation experiments performed in Material Testing Reactor (MTR), that address creep and growth under irradiation. State-of the-art equipment, including optical microscopy with image analysis for hydride content and distribution, FEG-Scanning Electron Microscopy fitted with EDS, WDS and EBSD, Transmission Electron Microscopy and Electron Probe Micro-Analysis allow the fine characterization of key properties of irradiated materials. A specific focus on on-going projects for implementing high temperature mechanical tensile testing equipment and specific metallurgical equipment (Tomographic Atom Probe, Focused Ion Beam SEM) which will be available in the very short term to characterize the materials at the atomic scale is also presented

Domaines: Physique Nucléaire Expérimentale [nucl-ex]; Physique Nucléaire Théorique [nucl-th]

C. Blandin, B. Verhaeghe, A. Lopez, C. Ritter, L. Rancoeur, et al.. Overview and current status of the experimental capacity of the LECI hotlab facility. 54th HOTLAB, Sep 2017, Mito, Japan. ⟨cea-02417314⟩