Abstract
Fuel rods in nuclear power plants consist of uranium dioxide pellets enclosed in Zirconium alloy (Zircaloy) tubes. It is vitally important for the pellet surface to remain free from pits, cracks and chipping defects after it is loaded into the tubes to prevent local hot spots during reactor operation. The inspection of the fuel rod presents several challenges. In this paper, we investigate the feasibility of using X-ray tomography inspection to detect flaws on the surface of pellets contained within the tubes using very limited number of projections.
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