Baker-Just is alive, San Onofre to run pilot M-5 bundles.

San Onofre Units 2 and 3 will run some pilot M-5 bundles. They cite data reported by Framatome Cogema Fuels (FCF) to establish that M-5 metal-water reaction characteristics are bounded by Baker-Just. Click on the slide below to enlarge and then use your return arrow to get back here.

The details of the FCF tests are proprietary, however, the NRC's description includes induction heating of M-5 as well as zircaloy specimens in super heated steam. It is likely that the apparatus is similar to the following setup that your blogger deployed during the 1960s in undocumented exploratory work.

This setup leads to nonconservative findings for zircaloy (or M-5) metal-water reaction characteristics in bundled fuel rods under LOCA conditions. In the above setup, the induction heated specimen is surrounded by the water cooled induction coil. In contrast, in a fuel bundle, the M-5 cladding is surrounded by other high temperature fuel rods. See PRM-50-93, ADAMS ML093290250 for performance of zircaloy clad bundled fuel under LOCA conditions in several experiments including LOFT FP-2.