Abstract
A cyclic integrated reversible-bending fatigue tester (CIRFT) was developed to support U.S. NRC and DOE Used Fuel Disposition Campaign studies on high burn-up (HBU) spent nuclear fuel (SNF) transportation during normal conditions of transport (NCT). Two devices were developed; the first CIRFT was successfully installed and operated in the ORNL hot-cells in September 2013. Since hot cell testing commenced several HBU SNF samples from both Zr-4 and M5 clads were investigated. The second CIRFT device was developed in February 2014, and has been used to test clad/fuel surrogate rods (stainless steel with alumina pellet inserts). The second CIRFT machine has also been used for sensor development and test sensitivity analyses, as well as loading boundary condition parameter studies. The lessons learned from CIRFT testing will be presented in this paper.
