Microstructural and non-destructive analysis

Our offer

Thanks to its Laboratory for High and Medium Activity LHMA, SCK•CEN can offer a wide variety of analysis techniques on nuclear materials, i.e. highly radioactive and/or actinide bearing materials.

The available non-destructive analysis methods cover the classical suite of techniques required to evaluate all important performance indicators for nuclear fuel pins of different dimensions, from 4 m long commercial fuel pins down to miniature pins for test irradiations in the BR2 reactor.

In terms of microanalysis, SCK•CEN can offer a large range of microscopy and spectroscopy services, including the required know-how on a large variety of materials. These materials encompass stainless steels, reactor pressure vessel steels, various nuclear fuel types, beryllium from test reactor matrices, zirconium alloys from fuel pin claddings, etc. The problems encountered are situated in the fields of corrosion, chemistry, fracture mechanics, thermodynamics, crystallography, etc.

Infrastructure for fuel rod analyses

• Hot cells

  • Large hot cell for accepting full size (4 m) irradiated fuel rods
  • Multi-purpose measuring benches for fuel rod positioning
  • Periscope for visual inspection of fuel rods

• Fuel rod dimensional analysis

  • Length (creep, …)
  • Diameter (ovality, pellet-clad interaction, …)

• Cladding

  • Integrity (cladding defects)
  • Oxide layer thickness

• Gamma spectrometry

  • Total gamma activity scan (pellet interfaces, migration, …)
  • Spectrometric analysis (burn-up, fission gas, power, migration, …)

• X-ray radiography

  • Full rod scan (interpellet positions, pellet defects, …)

• Punction

  • Plenum gas inventory collection and pressure determination
  • Fission gas release (composition, fraction, …)

• Refabrication/instrumentation

  • Refabrication (fuel coring, repressurisation and plug welding) of fuel rod segments (ramp testing in BR2)
  • Instrumentation (pressure transducer, thermocouple)

• Overcanning

  • For waste treatment
  • For storage or return

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Infrastructure for microanalysis

• Morphology, fractography, metallography, ceramography

  • Optical microscopy, SEM

• Physical and chemical interactions

  • EPMA-WDS, SEM-EDS, STEM-EDS, XPS
  • From millimeter to atomic scale
  • Spectral analysis from keV down to eV range

• Crystalline structure

  • XRD, TEM
  • From bulk material to submicron size samples
  • Pure compounds and defect structures

• Interface and defect structure research

  • XPS, TEM, XRD, PA
  • Bulk samples down to single atomic layer interactions

• Thermochemistry (separate effect tests)

  • 5 furnaces (1200 °C (air), 1500 °C and 1800 °C (controlled atmosphere), arc furnace and vertical quenching furnace (1200 °C))
  • Oxygen potential control, powder mixing and pelletising equipment

Contact: Van den Berghe Sven