SYMPOSIA PAPER Published: 01 January 1979
STP38176S

Helium Production in Fast Breeder Reactor Out-of-Core Structural Components

Source

The major sources of helium production in stainless steel irradiated in a fast reactor are (n, α) reactions in nickel, iron, chromium, and impurities such as nitrogen and boron. The corresponding reaction cross sections are generally of the threshold type with threshold energies about 1 MeV. Two important exceptions are the cross sections for the two-stage nickel reaction and the boron-10 reaction. Athough lifetime helium concentrations are low, they may be an important consideration, when applying material property change data obtained from the experimental breeder reactor II (EBR-II) core to high-temperature out-of-core fast breeder reactor (FBR) structural components. The ratio of atomic parts per million (appm) helium to displacements per atom is larger for the soft out-of-core spectra than for the harder in-core spectra in which most irradiation data are obtained. These differences should be kept in mind when applying data obtained in EBR-II to FBR out-of-core components.

Author Information

Simons, RL
Hanford Engineering Development Laboratory, Richland, Wash.
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Details
Developed by Committee: E10
Pages: 365–379
DOI: 10.1520/STP38176S
ISBN-EB: 978-0-8031-5551-0
ISBN-13: 978-0-8031-0327-6