Located on the CEA site in Cadarache, in the south of France, this facility is a hot laboratory devoted to studies on irradiated fuels. The LECA comprises 12 shielded cells used to house fuel rods and samples, up to 2.5 m long. STAR comprises 3 concrete cells able of receiving fuel rods up to 5 meters long, whether sealed or not. The laboratory can accommodate shipping casks up to a maximum weight of 60 tons.

The principal activities of the LECA involve:

• Post-irradiation, non-destructive, and destructive examinations of irradiated fuel rods, in order to carry out the characterizations and the basic research applied to the behaviour of fuels including : optical microscopy and macroscopy with image analysis, density and open porosity measurement, scanning electron microscope (SEM), microprobe (EPMA), secondary ion mass spectrometer (SIMS), X-ray diffractometer.

• Heat treatments on irradiated fuel samples, in order to characterize the mobility of the different fission products by quantitative gamma scanning.

• Reconstitution of short fuel rods (FABRICE) using sections of fuel elements cut from rods of power reactors, and including insertion of temperature and internal pressure devices.

STAR activities include:

• Processing of old experimental irradiated fuel elements (Magnox, FBR,…) stored in reactor pools : identification, decladding, drying, decomposition of hydrides, oxidation, container conditioning),
• Non-destructive post-irradiation examinations of fuel rods from power reactors (up to 4,5 m long), including visual examinations with video recordings, metrology, quantitative gamma scanning spectrometry, eddy current cladding defects examinations, zirconia thickness measurements, x-ray examination,
• Studies on the behaviour of fuel elements under very long-term storage conditions,
• Clad drilling, gas release measurements and measurement of free volume).

More information: CEA Cadarache