researchers in the department of nuclear engineering at texas a&m university (college station, texas) have developed the largest transparent test fuel assembly in the world to provide unique insight into the inner workings of an advanced sodium-cooled fast reactor, according to a report on the school website.

researchers at texas a&m have created the world's
largest transparent test fuel assembly.
(texas a&m university)

the transparent assembly allows engineers to measure hydraulic parameters and to validate computational tools that are used in reactor design and testing and there are already several organizations that have expressed interest in the development.

rather than the typical stainless steel that test assemblies are generally wrapped in, this assembly is created with acrylic to allow engineers to watch the processes occur and accurately measure full-field velocities and other data points.

the article explained, “fuel assemblies help facilitate the process of power generation in the reactor through fission, a process by which an atom splits and a small amount of mass is converted to energy. in comparison to current reactors, advanced fast reactors produce ‘fast’ neutrons that are not as efficient at creating fission, but are readily received by a specific uranium isotope to become plutonium.

it added, “producing the plutonium in this manner gives these conceptual reactors the potential to produce more nuclear fuel than they use, leading to a more efficient, abundant and clean production of energy to meet public needs. while the test assembly is unique in that it is the largest of its kind ever constructed, the researchers have also ensured the measurements taken are accurate through a novel technique, a transparent assembly.”

the project began in 2015 and has been supported by the argonne national laboratory (anl), nuclear utility company areva, and terra power, which is a nuclear energy technology conglomerate led by bill gates.

“in the interest of taking the most accurate measurements possible, the researchers used a specialized fluid that has the same index of refraction as the acrylic of the assembly,” the university site continued. “they then inject the solution with a fluorescent dye and other seeding particles and expose it to a laser to obtain high-resolution measurements. in their efforts to produce these high-quality measurements, the team had to deal with many challenges.”