AGC-2 Irradiation Data Qualification Final Report

The Graphite Technology Development Program will run a series of six experiments to quantify the effects of irradiation on nuclear grade graphite. The second Advanced Graphite Creep (AGC) experiment (AGC-2) began with Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) Cycle 149A on April 12, 2011, and ended with ATR Cycle 151B on May 5, 2012. The purpose of this report is to qualify AGC-2 irradiation monitoring data following INL Management and Control Procedure 2691, Data Qualification. Data that are Qualified meet the requirements for data collection and use as described in the experiment planning and quality assurance documents. Data that do not meet the requirements are Failed. Some data may not quite meet the requirements, but may still provide some useable information. These data are labeled as Trend. No Trend data were identified for the AGC-2 experiment. All thermocouples functioned throughout the AGC-2 experiment. There was one instance where spurious signals or instrument power interruption resulted in a recorded temperature value being well outside physical reality. This value was identified and labeled as Failed data. All other temperature data are Qualified. All helium and argon gas flow data are within expected ranges. Total gas flow was approximately 50 sccm through the capsule. Helium gas flow was briefly increased to 100 sccm during reactor shutdown. All gas flow data are Qualified. At the start of the experiment, moisture in the outflow gas line increased to 200 ppmv then declined to less than 10 ppmv over a period of 5 days. This increase in moisture coincides with the initial heating of the experiment and drying of the system. Moisture slightly exceeded 10 ppmv three other times during the experiment. While these moisture values exceed the 10 ppmv threshold value, the reported measurements are considered accurate and to reflect moisture conditions in the capsule. All moisture data are Qualified. Graphite creep specimens are subjected to one of three loads, 393 lbf, 491 lbf, or 589 lbf. Loads were consistently within 5% of the specified values throughout the experiment. Stack displacement increased consistently throughout the experiment with total displacement ranging from 1 to 1.5 inches. No anomalous values were identified. During reactor outages, a set of pneumatic rams are used to raise the stacks of graphite creep specimens to ensure the specimens have not become stuck within the test train. This stack raising was performed after all cycles when the capsule was in the reactor. All stacks were raised successfully after each cycle. The load and displacement data are Qualifie