Whole-Pin Furnace system: An experimental facility for studying irradiated fuel pin behavior under potential reactor accident conditions

The whole-pin furnace system is a new in-cell experimental facility constructed to investigate how irradiated fuel pins may fail under potential reactor accident conditions. Extensive checkouts have demonstrated excellent performance in remote operation, temperature control, pin breach detection, and fission gas handling. The system is currently being used in testing of EBIR-II-irradiated Integral Fast Reactor (IFR) metal fuel pins; future testing will include EBR-II-irradiated mixed-oxide fuel pins. 7 refs., 4 figs.