[en] This volume deals with the various aspects of ceramic processing and some of its applications in nuclear industry. Papers relevant to INIS are indexed separately

[en] The accelerating elements of the planned booster Linac at Nuclear Science Centre would be superconducting niobium cavities, with the housing made of thin niobium sheet with a stainless steel-304 jacket. The niobium sheet has to be cooled down below 9.2 K temperature, to make it superconducting. The cooling system would, therefore, consist of liquid helium reliquefaction system, liquid nitrogen reliquefaction system and the associated cryogen distribution system to cool the Linac resonators, superbuncher, rebuncher, superconducting solenoid magnet and the test cryostat. The electronics, pin diodes, used for the stabilization of the cavity will also be cooled down to liquid nitrogen temperatures. (author). 1 fig

[en] Short communication. 1 ref., 1 fig

[en] A simple alpha autoradiography technique has been employed to study the solidification pattern such as location of the thermal centre and the directions of solidification in Al-30%U alloy in mild steel and graphic moulds. This technique was found to be advantageous over the x-ray radiography in detecting the uranium segregation during solidification process. (author)

[en] Ultrasonics has become one of the important tools for non-destructive characterisation of processed materials viz. metals, alloys, ceramics, composites and plastics. Ultrasonic velocity and attenuation in material are related to the properties of the material. Any variation in these two characteristics can be related to the material properties. This paper discusses the application of ultrasonics in property evaluation, especially in nuclear and steel industries. Experiments were carried out on nuclear fuel pellets for determining the sintered density using longitudinal ultrasonic velocity. Application of ultrasonics in non-destructive characterisation of steels is also briefly mentioned in this paper. (author)

[en] A rapid method for nondestructive assay of Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR) fuel pins has been demonstrated using the two-step process of high-resolution gamma-ray spectrometry for isotopic composition measurement followed by neutron well coincidence counting for total plutonium content. The data have been compared with those obtained from Thermal Ionization Mass Spectrometry (TIMS) and potentiometry. The fissile isotopic ratio ²³⁹Pu/²⁴¹Pu measured by gamma-ray spectrometry was found to be close to the TIMS values within 1%. The total plutonium content of FBTR fuel pins measured by neutron counting was found to be in agreement with the estimated values obtained using potentiometry within 1%

[en] Plate type fuel elements have been fabricated for the neutron source reactor 'KAMINI' in the Radiometallurgy Division. These plate fuel elements have been fabricated using the picture frame technique. An important step in the evaluation of the quality of the plate fuel elements is the non-destructive inspection of bonding between the clad plates and the meat and the picture frame. From the available techniques for lack of bond inspection, a choice was made to use the ultrasonic immersion testing technique. This report records the experience gained in the development of the ultrasonic immersion testing technique for the evaluation of bonding in these fuel plates, with a back-up support of metallography. (author). 7 refs., 9 figs

[en] The Rajasthan Atomic Power Station Unit-2 (RAPS-2) has reached a stage of operation where the contacting pressure tubes are suspect to failure as a result of irradiation creep and displacement of the garter springs, the hot pressure tube coming in contact with the cold calandria tube. To study and assess the safety of these pressure tubes, two channels believed to be in contact with the calandria tubes, have been removed from the reactor for detailed full length post irradiation examination. Some of the test results are presented. 2 refs., 3 figs., 1 tab

[en] Presence of hydrogen in zircaloy pressure tube affects the velocity of ultrasound propagation. Both longitudinal wave velocity (V_L) and shear wave velocity (V_S) are affected depending on the concentration of hydrogen. Velocity ratio (V_L/V_S) changes as per the concentrations of hydrogen in different locations along the length of pressure tube. A hydride blister which forms at the pressure tube and calandria tube contact point is a distinct zone containing hydrogen 2-3 order of magnitude more than the parent matrix and hence, can be detected by sharp change in velocity ratio. (author)

[en] The FBTR fuel pins fabricated are subjected to different nondestructive inspection to ensure conformance to the stringent user specifications, required for optimum performance of these elements in the reactor. Nondestructive assay (NDA) techniques for estimating the quantities of special nuclear material are normally used for purposes of safeguards and security of nuclear material. These assay techniques have been developed for RMD, BARC for application in the inspection of FBTR fuel pins being fabricated for the FBTR, India. In order that these NDA techniques be applicable for purposes of quality control, the sensitivity and resolution of the radiometric techniques of gamma and neutron counting have been developed to provide accuracies of better than 2%. The NDA methods have been used to ensure the uniformity of enrichment of the fuel pellets in the fuel pin and to estimate the total element content in individual pins. This paper gives a brief description of the techniques and results of the large number of fuel pins assayed. (author)