Sipping tests for the irradiated fuel elements of the TR-2 research reactor

Abstract

Sipping tests have been performed for fuel elements of the TR-2 reactor at Cekmece Nuclear Research and Training Center (CNRTC), in order to find out which one failed in the core. A sipping assembly has been constructed and placed in the pool of the TR-2 reactor. The assembly identifies leaking fuel elements by collecting and measuring (137)Cs that leak out from the defective fuel elements. 31 fuel elements in the reactor have been tested for the clad integrity. The measured (137)Cs activity of the fuel element with an identification number S-104 is a 10247 Bq/(0.31). This value is approximately 234 times greater than the average of the other tested fuel elements in the reactor.