An innovative fuel design concept for improved Light Water Reactor performance and safety. Final technical report, April 24, 1992--April 23, 1993

Technical Report · Fri Dec 31 00:00:00 EST 1993

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/10125232· OSTI ID:10125232

Tulenko, J S; Connell, R G

The primary goal of this research is to develop a new fuel design which will have improved thermal/mechanical performance characteristics greatly superior to current thermal and mechanical design performance. The mechanical/thermal constraints define the lifetime of the fuel, the maximum power at which the fuel can be operated, the probability of fuel failure over core lifetime, and the integrity of a core during a transient excursion. The thermal/mechanical limits act to degrade fuel integrity when they are violated. The purpose of this project is to investigate a novel design for light water reactor fuel which will extend fuel performance limits and improve reactor safety even further than is currently achieved. This project is investigating liquid metal bonding of LWR fuel in order to radically decrease fuel centerline temperatures which has major performance and safety benefits. The project will verify the compatibility of the liquid metal bond with both the fuel pellets and cladding material, verify the performance enhancement features of the new design over the fuel lifetime, and verify the economic fabricability of the concept and will show how this concept will benefit the LWR nuclear industry.

• Research Organization: Florida Univ., Gainesville, FL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: FG02-92ER75702
• OSTI ID: 10125232
• Report Number(s): DOE/ER/75702-T1; ON: DE94007017; BR: KV0200000; TRN: 94:006427
• Resource Relation: Other Information: PBD: [1993]
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
WATER MODERATED REACTORS
NUCLEAR FUELS
DESIGN
PERFORMANCE
PROGRESS REPORT
220300
210100
210200
FUEL ELEMENTS
POWER REACTORS
NONBREEDING
LIGHT-WATER MODERATED
BOILING WATER COOLED
POWER REACTORS
NONBREEDING
LIGHT-WATER MODERATED
NONBOILING WATER COOLED