Performance of U-Pu-Zr fuel cast into zirconium molds

Conference · Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1992 · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States)

OSTI ID:6983298

Crawford, D C; Lahm, C E ^[1]; Tsai, H ^[2]

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1. Argonne National Lab.-West, Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
2. Argonne National Lab., IL (United States)

Current fabrication techniques for the integral fast reactor (IFR) fuel utilize injection casting into quartz molds after reprocessing in the IFR fuel cycle facility. The quartz molds are destroyed during the fuel demolding process, and the quartz residue must therefore be treated as contaminated waste. Alternatively, if the fuel can be cast into molds that remain as part of the fuel slugs (i.e., if the fuel can be left inside the molds for irradiation), then the quartz mold contribution to the waste stream can be eliminated. This possibility is being addresssed in an ongoing effort to evaluate the irradiation performance of fuel cast into zirconium sheaths rather than quartz molds. Zirconium was chosen as the sheath material because it is the component of the U-Pu-Zr fuel alloy that raises the alloy solidus temperatures and provides resistance to fuel-cladding chemical interaction (FCCI).

• OSTI ID: 6983298
• Report Number(s): CONF-921102-; CODEN: TANSAO
• Journal Information: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States), Vol. 66; Conference: Joint American Nuclear Society (ANS)/European Nuclear Society (ENS) international meeting on fifty years of controlled nuclear chain reaction: past, present, and future, Chicago, IL (United States), 15-20 Nov 1992; ISSN 0003-018X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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