Assembly and Irradiation Modeling of Residual Stresses in Low-Enriched Uranium Foil-Based Annular Targets for Molybdenum-99 Production

Assembly and Irradiation Modeling of Residual Stresses in Low-Enriched Uranium Foil-Based Annular Targets for Molybdenum-99 Production

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This paper considers a composite cylindrical structure, with low-enriched uranium (LEU) foil enclosed between two aluminum 6061-T6 cylinders.A recess is cut all around the outer circumference of the inner tube to accommodate the LEU foil of open-cross section.To obtain perfect contact at the interfaces of the foil and the tubes, an internal pressure is Make-Up applied to the inner tube, thereby plastically and elastically deforming it.The residual stresses resulting from the assembly process are used along with a thermal stress model to predict the stress margins Chlorophyll in the cladding during irradiation.

The whole process was simulated as a steady-state two-dimensional problem using the commercial finite element code Abaqus FEA.The irradiation behavior of the annular target has been presented, and the effect of the assembly residual stresses has been discussed.