Christian Petrie

Profile Information

Name: Dr. Christian Petrie
Institution: Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Position: Group Leader
h-Index: 19
ORCID: 0000-0003-1167-3545
Expertise: Additive Manufacturing, Fiber Optic Instrumentation, Nuclear Fuel, Reactor Instrumentation, Sensors

Publications:

		"ACCELERATED IRRADIATION TESTING OF MINIATURE NUCLEAR FUEL AND CLADDING SPECIMENS" Christian Petrie, Takaaki Koyanagi, Richard Howard, Kevin Field, Joseph Burns, Kurt Terrani, OSTI.govI Vol. 2018 Link
		"Accident Tolerant Fuel Cladding Tube Irradiations in the HFIR" Yutai Katoh, Christian Petrie, Kurt Terrani, Transactions of the American Nuclear Society Vol. 116 2017 Link The Advanced Fuels Campaign within the Fuel Cycle Research and Development program of the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy is currently investigating a number of advanced nuclear fuel cladding concepts to improve the accident tolerance of light water reactors (LWRs). Some of the leading candidates to replace traditional zirconium-based cladding are aluminaforming ferritic alloys (e.g., FeCrAl) and silicon carbide (SiC) composites. Oak Ridge National Laboratory has developed experimental designs to irradiate thin-walled cladding tubes with representative geometry in the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) under relevant LWR temperatures and in some cases under prototypic heat flux. These designs allow for post-irradiation examination (PIE) of cladding which closely resembles expected commercially viable geometries and microstructures. PIE will include studies of dimensional change, microstructure variation, mechanical performance, etc. The experiments were designed using relatively inexpensive rabbit capsules for the irradiation vehicle. The simplistic designs combined with the extremely high neutron flux in the HFIR allow for rapid testing of a large test matrix, thus reducing the time and cost for moving advanced cladding materials closer to commercialization. This work describes the capsule designs that have been developed at ORNL, some initial results, and plans for future irradiations.
		"Assembly of Rabbit Capsules for Irradiation of Pyrolytic Carbon / Silicon Carbide Diffusion Couples in the High Flux Isotope Reactor" Kory Linton, Tyler Gerczak, Kurt Terrani, Christian Petrie, OSTI.gov, Technical Report Vol. 2018 Link Tristructural-isotropic (TRISO)–coated particle fuel is a promising advanced fuel concept being considered for several advanced reactor applications and for accident-tolerant fuel for light water reactors. One of the aspects studied in the development of this advanced fuel concept is the release of specific fission products (Ag, Eu, and Sr). The silicon carbide (SiC) layer of TRISO fuel serves as the primary barrier to metallic fission products and actinides not retained in the fuel kernel. The goal of this project is to evaluate the effect of irradiation on the diffusion of these fission products in the SiC layer of the fuel. For this purpose, rabbit capsules containing small slab diffusion couple specimens have been assembled to be irradiated in the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR). The diffusion couple specimens have been fabricated using similar processes and equipment as those used to make TRISO particles; the desired fission products have been implanted in the specimens using an ion accelerator. Moreover, the effect of temperature on the fission products diffusion will be studied separately by performing thermal experiments in the absence of irradiation. This report describes the irradiation experiment design concept, summarizes the irradiation test matrix, and reports on the successful assembly of two rabbit capsules that will be irradiated in the HFIR.
		"Completion of the Irradiation of Silicon Carbide Cladding Tube Specimens in the High Flux Isotope Reactor" Alicia Raftery, Christian Petrie, Yutai Katoh, Kory Linton, OSTI.gov, Technical Report Vol. 2018 Link This document outlines the irradiation of silicon carbide cladding tube specimens in the High Flux Isotope Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The cladding tube specimens consisted of monolithic, composite, and coated SiC specimens in order to test the effect of these various materials on the overall cladding performance during irradiation. A total of 18 specimens were irradiated for one cycle, with 9 specimens irradiated at low heat flux conditions and 9 specimens at high heat flux conditions. The specimens were inserted in cycle 475 in September 2017 and reached an average irradiation dose of approximately 2.6 dpa.
		"Design and Thermal Analysis for Irradiation of Absorber Material Specimens in the High Flux Isotope Reactor" Christian Petrie, Kory Linton, Christian Deck, Annabelle LeCoq, Ryan Gallagher, OSTI.gov, Technical Report Vol. 2018 Link This report provides a summary of the irradiation vehicle design and thermal analysis of absorber material specimens planned for irradiation in the flux trap of the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR). Four different absorber materials will be inserted in the same capsule: hafnium carbide without additive (HfC), hafnium carbide with molybdenum silicide additive (HfC + MoSi2), samarium hafnate (Sm2HfO5), and europium hafnate (Eu2HfO5). The capsule design, with target temperatures of 300°C, will accommodate twelve specimens. Two capsules are planned to be built and irradiated to two different neutron fluence levels
		"Design and Thermal Analysis for Irradiation of Silicon Carbide Joint Specimens in the High Flux Isotope Reactor" Christian Petrie, Kory Linton, Christian Deck, OSTI.gov, Technical Report Vol. 2018 Link This report provides a summary of the irradiation vehicle design and thermal analysis of SiC joint specimens planned for irradiation in the flux trap of the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR). Two different capsule designs will be used to accommodate the two different specimen geometries: a small torsion joint specimen geometry to measure mechanical and thermal properties, and joint end plug representative cladding geometry to demonstrate strength and integrity. The capsule designs, with target temperatures of 350°C ± 50°C and 750°C ± 50°C, will accommodate either sixteen torsion joint specimens or one joint end plug specimen. Three joint variations will be studied in each capsule design: a hybrid SiC (preceramic polymer with chemical vapor deposition (CVD) SiC), a transient eutectic phase (TEP) process, and an oxide process.
		"Evaluating the Irradiation Effects on the Elastic Properties of Miniature Monolithic SiC Tubular Specimens" Yutai Katoh, Christian Petrie, Kurt Terrani, Gyanender Singh, Takaaki Koyanagi, Journal of Nuclear Materials Vol. 499 2018 107-110 Link The initial results of a post-irradiation examination study conducted on CVD SiC tubular specimens irradiated under a high radial heat flux are presented herein. The elastic moduli were found to decrease more than that estimated based on previous studies. The significant decreases in modulus are attributed to the cracks present in the specimens. The stresses in the specimens, calculated through finite element analyses, were found to be greater than the expected strength of irradiated specimens, indicating that the irradiation-induced stresses caused these cracks. The optical microscopy images and predicted stress distributions indicate that the cracks initiated at the inner surface and propagated outward.
		"Evaluation of Irradiation-Induced Strain in SiC Tubes by a Combination of Experiment and Simulation" Takaaki Koyanagi, Yutai Katoh, Christian Petrie, Kurt Terrani, Transactions of the American Nuclear Society Vol. 118 2018 Link
		"Experimental design and analysis for irradiation of SiC/SiC composite tubes under a prototypic high heat flux" Christian Deck, Yutai Katoh, Takaaki Koyanagi, Christian Petrie, Joel McDuffee, Kurt Terrani, Journal of Nuclear Materials Vol. 491 2017 94-104 Link The purpose of this work is to design an irradiation vehicle for testing silicon carbide (SiC) fiber-reinforced SiC matrix composite cladding materials under conditions representative of a light water reactor in order to validate thermo-mechanical models of stress states in these materials due to irradiation swelling and differential thermal expansion. The design allows for a constant tube outer surface temperature in the range of 300–350 °C under a representative high heat flux (~0.66 MW/m2) during one cycle of irradiation in an un-instrumented “rabbit” capsule in the High Flux Isotope Reactor. An engineered aluminum foil was developed to absorb the expansion of the cladding tubes, due to irradiation swelling, without changing the thermal resistance of the gap between the cladding and irradiation capsule. Finite-element analyses of the capsule were performed, and the models used to calculate thermal contact resistance were validated by out-of-pile testing and post-irradiation examination of the foils and passive SiC thermometry. Six irradiated cladding tubes (both monoliths and composites) were irradiated and subsequently disassembled in a hot cell. The calculated temperatures of passive SiC thermometry inside the capsules showed good agreement with temperatures measured post-irradiation, with two calculated temperatures falling within 10 °C of experimental measurements. The success of this design could lead to new opportunities for irradiation applications with materials that suffer from irradiation swelling, creep, or other dimensional changes that can affect the specimen temperature during irradiation.
		"High-dose temperature-dependent neutron irradiation effects on the optical transmission and dimensional stability of amorphous fused silica" Christian Petrie, Anthony Birri, Thomas Blue, Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids Vol. 525 2019 Link
		"High‐temperature effects on the light transmission through sapphire optical fibe" Christian Petrie, Thomas Blue, Journal of the American Ceramic Society Vol. 101 2018 3452-3459 Link
		"High-Temperature Effects on the Light Transmission through Sapphire Optical Fiber " B.A. Wilson, Christian Petrie, Thomas Blue, J Am Ceram Soc. Vol. 101 2018 3452-3459
		"In-pile OFDR Sensing with Fiber Bragg Gratings in Sapphire Optical Fiber" Kelly McCary, Brandon Wilson, Joshua Daw, Pattrick Calderoni, Christian Petrie, ANS Winter Meeting and Nuclear Technology Expo Vol. [unknown] Optical fibers provide a variety of options for instrumentation in reactor environments. Multiple physical phenomena can be measured using optical fibers including, temperature, strain, pressure, and fluid level. Optical fibers are advantageous because they are immune to electromagnetic interference, have a small diameter (~125 µm), and have a fast response. This work investigates temperature sensing with sapphire optical fiber in the Ohio State University Research Reactor (OSURR). Specifically, this work investigates temperature sensing, using the Optical Frequency Domain Reflectometry (OFDR) sensing technique. A Luna Innovations Optical Backscatter Reflectometer (OBR) 4600, was used with sapphire optical fibers with an internal cladding and that were inscribed with type-II fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs). The sapphire fiber optic temperature sensors were irradiated in the central irradiation facility (CIF) of the OSURR for five days and received a total fluence of approximately 2.5x1018 n/cm2 and a gamma dose of approximately 3.48 Grad. The temperature was uncontrolled and the maximum temperature of the air in the CIF reached approximately 80 ºC, as measured by a k-type thermocouple. Further development and characterization of the cladding process will enable the deployment of nearsingle mode sapphire optical fiber as high temperature radiation resistant sensors.
		"In-pile OFDR Sensing with Fiber Bragg Gratings in Sapphire Optical Fiber" Kelly McCary, Thomas Blue, Brandon Wilson, Joshua Daw, Pattrick Calderoni, Christian Petrie, Transactions of the American Nuclear Society Vol. [unknown]
		"Suitability of Type-II FBGs in Silica Optical Fiber for Temperature Sensing in TREAT" Kelly McCary, Thomas Blue, Brandon Wilson, Anthony Birri, Christian Petrie, ANS NPIC&HMIT 11 Vol. 2019 Link

Presentations:

	"Accident Tolerant Fuel Cladding Tube Irradiations in the HFIR" Yutai Katoh, Christian Petrie, 2017 American Nuclear Society Annual Meeting June 11-15, (2017)
	"Assessment of Pre-irradiation SiC CMC Joint Performance in Representative Cladding Geometries" Christian Deck, Sean Gonderman, George Jacobsen, Takaaki Koyanagi, Christian Petrie, Global/TopFuel 2019 September 22-26, (2019) Link
	"Evaluation of Elastic Properties of SiC-SiC Tubular Specimens Using Resonant Ultrasound Spectroscopy" Yutai Katoh, Takaaki Koyanagi, Christian Petrie, 42nd International Conference and Expo on Advanced Ceramics and Composites (2018) January 21-27, (2018)
	"Evaluation of Irradiation-Induced Strain in SiC Tubes by a Combination of Experiment and Simulation" Takaaki Koyanagi, Yutai Katoh, Gyanender Singh, Xunxiang Hu, Christian Petrie, Kurt Terrani, 2018 ANS Annual Meeting NFSM Poster Session June 17-21, (2018) Link
	"Irradiation and PIE of ATF cladding materials in HFIR" Kevin Field, Yutai Katoh, Takaaki Koyanagi, Christian Petrie, Advanced Fuels Campaign Integration Meeting (2017) March 1-2, (2017)
	"Nuclear Science User Facilities Irradiation Capabilities at Oak Ridge National Laboratory" Christian Petrie, 2017 ANS Annual Meeting [unknown]
	"Post Irradiation Examination of SiC Tube Subjected to Simultaneous Irradiation and Radial High Heat Flux" Christian Deck, Yutai Katoh, Takaaki Koyanagi, Christian Petrie, 2017 ANS Annual Meeting [unknown]
	"Post-irradiation examination of SiC tubes neutron irradiated under a radial high heat flux" Christian Deck, Yutai Katoh, Takaaki Koyanagi, Christian Petrie, 42nd International Conference and Expo on Advanced Ceramics and Composites (2018) January 21-26, (2018)
	"Post-Irradiation Validation of High Heat Flux SiC/SiC Cladding Irradiation Design" Yutai Katoh, Takaaki Koyanagi, Christian Petrie, the 41st International Conference and Expo on Advanced Ceramics and Composites January 22-27, (2017)

NSUF Articles:

DOE Awards 33 Rapid Turnaround Experiment Research Proposals - Projects total approximately $1.5 million These projects will continue to advance the understanding of irradiation effects in nuclear fuels and materials in support of the mission of the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy. Monday, May 14, 2018 - Calls and Awards
DOE Awards 37 RTE Proposals - Awarded projects total nearly $1.4M in access awards Tuesday, July 14, 2020 - News Release, Calls and Awards
CINR Awards Announced - Eight projects were selected Projects will take advantage of NSUF capabilities to investigate important nuclear fuel and material applications. Thursday, June 27, 2019 - Calls and Awards

Accomplishments

NSUF Profile

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Accomplished Author

Authored 10+ NSUF-supported publications

NSUF Presenter

Presented an NSUF-supported publication

NSUF Submitter

Submitted an RTE Proposal to NSUF

NSUF Researcher

Awarded an RTE Proposal

Accomplished Collaborator

Collaborated on 3+ RTE Proposals

Accomplished Reviewer

Reviewed 10+ RTE Proposals

NSUF Supported Research

Active Irradiation Testing of Temperature Sensing Capability of Clad Sapphire Optical Fibers with Type 2 Bragg Gratings using Optical Backscatter Reflectometry - FY 2018 RTE 2nd Call, #1424

Radiation-induced signal attenuation and drift of single crystal sapphire optical fiber sensors - FY 2020 RTE 2nd Call, #3085

NSUF Research Collaborations

Functional Testing of an Optical Fiber Based Gamma Thermometer in the HFIR Spent Fuel Pool - FY 2020 RTE 1st Call, #2909

High Fluence Active Irradiation and Combined Effects Testing of Sapphire Optical Fiber Distributed Temperature Sensors - FY 2019 CINR, #3036

High Fluence Irradiation Testing of Fiber Optic Material Transmission - FY 2018 RTE 2nd Call, #1473

Measurement of Time-Dependent Transmissivity of Materials for Optical Sensors and Instrumentation - FY 2024 CINR, #5024

Radiation-induced Attenuation and Nonlinear Optical Properties of Fused Silica and Single-crystal Sapphire - FY 2022 RTE 1st Call, #4378

Reliability Assessment of Irradiated Integrated Silicon Carbide Pressure/Temperature Sensors for Lunar Fission Surface Power Reactor - FY 2024 RTE 1st Call, #4798