Neutron Irradiation of Zirconium Alloys in the Budapest Research Reactor

Sustainable and increasingly safe operation is one of the constant goals of various technical and economic developments related to nuclear reactors. Reliability of the fuel elements cladding is basic for the safe and economic operation, to select the best fuel clad large number of simulations must be carried out in different operational conditions and supported by experimental results. Two types of cladding tube material had been irradiated in the a BAGIRA irradiation loop at to obtain aged clad properties. The special design of the irradiation target holder allowed the specimens to be irradiated with different fluences and at a prescribed temperature. The irradiated specimens will be tested and the measured properties will be used to simulate the aged fuel clad behaviour. This paper introduces the design, preparation and implementation of the irradiation of fuel clad materials.