Development of Erbia-bearing Super High Burnup Fuel
- Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya (Japan)
- Osaka University, 2-1 Yamada-oka, Suita-shi, Osaka (Japan)
- Kyoto University, 2-1010 Asashiro-Nishi, Kumatori-cho, Sennan-gun, Osaka (Japan)
- Nuclear Engineering Ltd., 1-3-7 Tosabori, Nishi-ku, Osaka (Japan)
- Nuclear Fuel Industries, Ltd., 1-950 Asashiro-Nishi, Kumatori-cho, Sennan-gun, Osaka (Japan)
In this paper, concept and development plan of the Erbia (Er{sub 2}O{sub 3})-bearing super high burnup (Er-SHB) fuel for LWRs are described. In order to reduce the number of spent fuel assemblies, utilization of high burnup fuels with higher uranium enrichment is effective. However, the upper limitation of enrichment for LWR fuels is 5 wt% and current advanced fuel assemblies for LWRs are already reaching this limit. Though various efforts to overcome the 5 wt% enrichment limit have been undergoing, it will require considerable cost that may offset the economic benefit of high burnup fuels. We are proposing another pathway. By adding low content ({>=}0.2 wt%) of Erbia in all UO{sub 2} powder, reactivity of high enrichment (>5 wt%) fuel is suppressed under that of current fuel assemblies, i.e. we leverage the negative reactivity credit of Erbia. Since Erbia is mixed into UO{sub 2} powder just after the re-conversion, we can avoid most of the criticality safety issues appearing in the front-end stream. Namely, major improvements and re-licensing for equipments in transportation, storage and fabrication process will not be necessary. Therefore, the Er-SHB fuel will significantly contribute to reduction of fuel cycle cost. (authors)
- Research Organization:
- American Nuclear Society, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 21021112
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 2006 International congress on advances in nuclear power plants - ICAPP'06, Reno - Nevada (United States), 4-8 Jun 2006; Other Information: Country of input: France; 8 refs; Related Information: In: Proceedings of the 2006 international congress on advances in nuclear power plants - ICAPP'06, 2734 pages.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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