About XPREX

The X-Ray Pebble Recirculation Experiment (XPREX) is a multi-use pebble-bed tomography user facility, used to further develop the understanding of fuel behavior in pebble-bed reactor cores.

Using a medical x-ray suite and custom pebbles instrumented with tungsten wire, the facility can digitally reconstruct 3-dimensional pebble beds. The XPREX facility also utilizes custom automation to enable dynamic experiments.

The XPREX facility is part of the UC Berkeley Nuclear Engineering Thermal Hydraulics Laboratory, which performs research on the Pebble-Bed Fluoride-Salt-Cooled High-Temperature Reactor (PB-FHR).

Authors

Grant Buster
Mike Laufer