Production of Low Enriched Uranium Nitride Kernels for TRISO Particle Irradiation Testing

Technical Report · Wed Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1376320· OSTI ID:1376320

McMurray, J. W. ^[1]; Silva, C. M. ^[1]; Helmreich, G. W. ^[1]; Gerczak, T. J. ^[1]; Dyer, J. A. ^[1]; Collins, J. L. ^[1]; Hunt, R. D. ^[1]; Lindemer, T. B. ^[1]; Terrani, K. A. ^[1]

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1. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

A large batch of UN microspheres to be used as kernels for TRISO particle fuel was produced using carbothermic reduction and nitriding of a sol-gel feedstock bearing tailored amounts of low-enriched uranium (LEU) oxide and carbon. The process parameters, established in a previous study, produced phasepure NaCl structure UN with dissolved C on the N sublattice. The composition, calculated by refinement of the lattice parameter from X-ray diffraction, was determined to be UC_0.27N_0.73. The final accepted product weighed 197.4 g. The microspheres had an average diameter of 797±1.35 μm and a composite mean theoretical density of 89.9±0.5% for a solid solution of UC and UN with the same atomic ratio; both values are reported with their corresponding calculated standard error.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1376320
• Report Number(s): ORNL/SR--2016/268; 68103
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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