Fabrication and microstructural analysis of ceramic fuel derived from sol-gel and powder routes

Technical Report · Wed Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1470877· OSTI ID:1470877

Finkeldei, Sarah C. ^[1]; Kiggans, Jr., James O. ^[1]; Hunt, Rodney Dale ^[1]; Terrani, Kurt A. ^[1]; Nelson, Andrew T. ^[1]

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

Within the Advanced Fuels Campaign the Oak Ridge National Laboratory is looking into the fabrication of enhanced UO₂ fuel candidates. Early in FY18 an open-port glove box line was set up enabling the fabrication and initial characterization of potentially enhanced fuel candidates. The fabrication processes available at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory are unique owing to its UO₃ microsphere feedstock compared to commonly used powder feedstocks. The reported activities demonstrate the feasibility of fabricating advanced UO₂-Molybdenum ceramics with an enhanced thermal conductivity and high densities. Further development of the fabrication routes and a variety of different dopants is expected to result in a matrix of different advanced fuel candidates. Following initial property screening, the in-reactor performance and suitability of these fuel candidates will be probed in the MiniFuel irradiation set-up at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1470877
• Report Number(s): ORNL/SPR-2018/866
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS