Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Prospects for additive manufacturing of nuclear fuel forms

Journal Article · · Progress in Nuclear Energy
Additive manufacturing (AM) is viewed as a critical enabling technology for achieving superior performance and improved economics across many sectors. Although the past decade has seen increased application of AM methods to nuclear reactor cladding and structural materials, exploration of AM as applied to the uranium-bearing nuclear fuel forms has been limited. The two major families of nuclear fuel forms (monolithic, particle/dispersion) are utilized with their own set of core objectives in mind, and their differences require distinct fabrication infrastructures. These reference fabrication methods impose many limitations on nuclear fuels. Further, both currently operating reactors and future concepts have the potential for improved performance if these accepted limitations are relaxed or removed entirely. The primary limitations of reference fabrication processes for the common nuclear fuel forms are outlined in this paper. This groundwork is then used to identify avenues of fuel performance specific to each of these fuel architectures that could be exploited if the restrictions of conventional fuel fabrication are removed. Moreover, multiple targets for AM studies are laid out for each of the major nuclear fuel variants. Finally, key strategic components to guide research activities in AM of nuclear fuels are outlined, with an emphasis on use of modeling and simulation to motivate research aims and embrace of an accelerated testing methodology to screen and quality new fuel forms.
Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1899016
Journal Information:
Progress in Nuclear Energy, Journal Name: Progress in Nuclear Energy Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 155; ISSN 0149-1970
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (169)

Design of Optimal Organic Materials System for Ceramic Suspension‐Based Additive Manufacturing journal August 2019
Recent Progress in Additive Manufacturing of Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composite journal October 2018
Review of the microheterogeneous thoria‐urania fuel for micro‐sized high temperature reactors
  • Rabir, Mohamad Hairie; Ismail, Aznan Fazli; Yahya, Mohd Syukri
  • International Journal of Energy Research, Vol. 45, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1002/er.5923
journal September 2020
Swelling behavior of U-Pu-Zr fuel journal February 1990
On structural topology optimization using graded porosity control journal April 2019
The effect of scanning strategy on laser fusion of functionally graded H13/Cu materials journal May 2006
Economics of additive manufacturing for end-usable metal parts journal February 2012
A fabrication methodology for dual-material engineering structures using ultrasonic additive manufacturing journal September 2013
Characterization of direct selective laser sintering of alumina journal September 2017
Review of additive manufacturing methods for high-performance ceramic materials journal April 2019
Analytical modelling of in situ layer-wise defect detection in 3D-printed parts: additive manufacturing journal October 2020
Powder metallurgical fabrication of zirconium matrix cermet nuclear fuels journal August 2009
Nitride fuel for Gen IV nuclear power systems journal November 2018
A Review of Finite Element Method Models for Nuclear Graphite Applications journal December 2018
Progress and challenges towards additive manufacturing of SiC ceramic journal July 2021
The effect of additives on the irradiation behaviour of UO2 journal October 1975
Sintering characterization of UO2 powders journal January 1978
High burnup performance of annular UO2 fuel with inter-pellet graphite discs journal October 1984
Correlation between UO2 powder and pellet quality in PHWR fuel manufacturing journal April 1988
Irradiation behavior of metallic fast reactor fuels journal June 1992
History of fast reactor fuel development journal September 1993
Casting of metallic fuel containing minor actinide additions journal September 1993
Criteria for selecting the components of composites journal May 1993
Reduction of the open porosity of UO2 pellets through pore structure control journal June 2000
Grain size control of UO2 pellets by adding heat-treated U3O8 particles to UO2 powder journal May 2003
Zirconium nitride as inert matrix for fast systems journal June 2003
Reaction layer growth and reaction heat of U–Mo/Al dispersion fuels using centrifugally atomized powders journal September 2003
Thermal compatibility studies of U3Si2 dispersion fuels prepared with centrifugally atomized powder journal April 1999
Building blocks for a digital twin of additive manufacturing journal August 2017
Selective laser melting enabled additive manufacturing of Ti–22Al–25Nb intermetallic: Excellent combination of strength and ductility, and unique microstructural features associated journal July 2019
Production of small uranium dioxide microspheres for cermet nuclear fuel using the internal gelation process journal July 2014
Reactor physics phenomena in additively manufactured control elements for the High Flux Isotope Reactor journal May 2018
Neutronic and thermal-hydraulic feasibility studies for High Flux Isotope Reactor conversion to low-enriched uranium silicide dispersion fuel journal August 2019
In-situ fabrication of dispersion nuclear fuel pellets with a core-shell structure journal December 2019
The technology of micro heat pipe cooled reactor: A review journal January 2020
Assessment of swelling and constituent redistribution in uranium-zirconium fuel using phenomena identification and ranking tables (PIRT) journal February 2020
Reactor and fuel cycle performance of light water reactor fuel with 235U enrichments above 5% journal July 2020
Functionally graded materials: A review of fabrication and properties journal December 2016
Characterization of ceramic components fabricated using binder jetting additive manufacturing technology journal July 2016
Microstructure and mechanical properties of functionally graded TiCp/Ti6Al4V composite fabricated by laser melting deposition journal December 2017
Characterization of zirconia specimens fabricated by ceramic on-demand extrusion journal August 2018
Laser additive manufacturing and homogeneous densification of complicated shape SiC ceramic parts journal December 2018
Binder jetting additive manufacturing of aluminum nitride components journal August 2019
SiC whisker strengthened UO2–Mo composite pellets with superior thermal-mechanical properties journal December 2019
Freeze-form extrusion fabrication of functionally graded materials journal January 2012
Technologies in additive manufacturing for fiber reinforced composite materials: a review journal June 2020
Multiscale modeling of solid propellants: From particle packing to failure journal June 2007
Defects and anomalies in powder bed fusion metal additive manufacturing journal April 2022
Engineering demonstration reactors: A stepping stone on the path to deployment of advanced nuclear energy in the United States journal January 2022
A wicked heat pipe fabricated using metal additive manufacturing journal November 2021
3D printing of ceramics: A review journal April 2019
Extrusion-based additive manufacturing of functionally graded ceramics journal March 2021
Review of additive manufacturing and densification techniques for the net- and near net-shaping of geometrically complex silicon nitride components journal March 2022
Promising characteristics of gradient porosity Ti-6Al-4V alloy prepared by SLM process journal May 2017
Sintering behaviour and microstructures of carbides and nitrides for the inert matrix fuel by spark plasma sintering journal June 2006
Estimation of maximum coated particle fuel compact packing fraction journal March 2007
Dispersion type zirconium matrix fuels fabricated by capillary impregnation method journal May 2007
An approach to fuel development and qualification journal September 2007
A novel approach to fabricating fuel compacts for the next generation nuclear plant (NGNP) journal October 2008
A US perspective on fast reactor fuel fabrication technology and experience part I: metal fuels and assembly design journal June 2009
Microstructural development in irradiated U-7Mo/6061 Al alloy matrix dispersion fuel journal September 2009
Main results of the development of dispersion type IMF at A.A. Bochvar Institute journal January 2010
Interdiffusion in U3Si–Al, U3Si2–Al, and USi–Al dispersion fuels during irradiation journal March 2011
Fabrication and characterization of fully ceramic microencapsulated fuels journal July 2012
Fabrication and preliminary evaluation of metal matrix microencapsulated fuels journal August 2012
Microencapsulated fuel technology for commercial light water and advanced reactor application journal August 2012
The influence of SiC particle size and volume fraction on the thermal conductivity of spark plasma sintered UO2–SiC composites journal November 2013
Accident tolerant fuels for LWRs: A perspective journal May 2014
Rapidly solidified U–6wt%Nb powders for dispersion-type nuclear fuels journal May 2014
Manufacture of fully dense uranium nitride pellets using hydride derived powders with spark plasma sintering journal September 2014
Progress on matrix SiC processing and properties for fully ceramic microencapsulated fuel form journal February 2015
Uranium silicide pellet fabrication by powder metallurgy for accident tolerant fuel evaluation and irradiation journal November 2015
A comparative study of nitride purity and Am fabrication losses in PuN materials by the powder and internal gelation production routes journal December 2016
High density, uniformly distributed W/UO2 for use in Nuclear Thermal Propulsion journal April 2017
Early progress on additive manufacturing of nuclear fuel materials journal September 2018
Postirradiation examination results of several metallic fuel alloys and forms from low burnup AFC irradiations journal October 2018
Postirradiation examination on metallic fuel in the AFC-2 irradiation test series journal October 2018
Grain size and phase purity characterization of U3Si2 fuel pellets journal December 2018
Radiation damage and irradiation-assisted stress corrosion cracking of additively manufactured 316L stainless steels journal January 2019
Production of more ideal uranium trioxide microspheres for the sol-gel microsphere pelletization process without the use of carbon journal March 2019
Fabrication of UO2-Mo composite fuel with enhanced thermal conductivity from sol-gel feedstock journal July 2019
Performance of a ferritic/martensitic steel for nuclear reactor applications fabricated using additive manufacturing journal August 2019
A study of constituent redistribution in U–Zr fuels using quantitative phase-field modeling and sensitivity analysis journal September 2019
Separate effects irradiation testing of miniature fuel specimens journal December 2019
Production of 28 μm zirconium carbide kernels using the internal gelation process and microfluidics journal January 2020
Uranium nitride tristructural-isotropic fuel particle journal April 2020
Accelerating nuclear fuel development and qualification: Modeling and simulation integrated with separate-effects testing journal October 2020
Investigation of the microstructure evolution of alpha uranium after in pile transient journal December 2020
Impact of uranium oxide (UO2) fuel with molybdenum (Mo) inserts on pressurized water reactor performance and safety journal December 2020
Additive manufacturing of silicon carbide for nuclear applications journal January 2021
Graphite flakes/UO2 fuel pellets with excellent thermal conductivity in radial direction journal March 2021
Regulatory Research Perspective on Additive Manufacturing for Nuclear Component Applications journal April 2021
Qualification pathways for additively manufactured components for nuclear applications journal May 2021
Influence of neutron irradiation on Al-6061 alloy produced via ultrasonic additive manufacturing journal July 2021
Irradiation stability and thermomechanical properties of 3D-printed SiC journal August 2021
Embedded sensors in additively manufactured silicon carbide journal August 2021
Numerical investigation of the thermal conductivity of UO2 – Mo microplate fuel pellets to realize enhanced heat transfer in the fuel radial direction journal October 2021
High-burnup fuel stress analysis prior to and during a LOCA transient journal December 2021
Modelling of thermal conductivity and melting behaviour of minor actinide-MOX fuels and assessment against experimental and molecular dynamics data journal December 2021
Characterization of radiation damage in 3D printed SiC journal February 2022
Fully ceramic microencapsulated fuels fabricated by tape casting journal June 2022
Synthesis of U3O8 and UO2 microspheres using microfluidics journal August 2022
Review of in-situ process monitoring and in-situ metrology for metal additive manufacturing journal April 2016
Compressive properties of functionally graded lattice structures manufactured by selective laser melting journal October 2017
Thermal design, optimization and additive manufacturing of ceramic regular structures to maximize the radiative heat transfer journal February 2019
A Critical Review on Recent Research Methodologies in Additive Manufacturing journal January 2017
A scalable digital platform for the use of digital twins in additive manufacturing journal January 2022
Additive manufacturing of functionally graded materials: A review journal September 2019
Ceramic tape casting: A review of current methods and trends with emphasis on rheological behaviour and flow analysis journal October 2016
Porous zinc scaffolds for bone tissue engineering applications: A novel additive manufacturing and casting approach journal May 2020
Investigation of bounds on particle packing in pebble-bed high temperature reactors journal March 2006
Development of the hot isostatic press manufacturing process for monolithic nuclear fuel journal January 2013
Fabrication and characterization of driver-fuel particles, designed-to-fail fuel particles, and fuel compacts for the US AGR-3/4 irradiation test journal May 2014
Modeling constituent redistribution in U–Pu–Zr metallic fuel using the advanced fuel performance code BISON journal May 2015
Evaluation of missing pellet surface geometry on cladding stress distribution and magnitude journal August 2016
A model to predict failure of irradiated U–Mo dispersion fuel journal December 2016
Modeling of Cr2O3-doped UO2 as a near-term accident tolerant fuel for LWRs using the BISON code journal October 2018
Science-based nuclear design and safety in the emerging age of data based analytics journal December 2019
Fuel performance evaluation of annular metallic fuels for an advanced fast reactor concept journal October 2019
New method for analysis of X-ray computed tomography scans of TRISO fuel forms journal February 2020
Development and demonstration of a methodology to evaluate high burnup fuel susceptibility to pulverization under a loss of coolant transient journal September 2020
Transformational Challenge Reactor preconceptual core design studies journal October 2020
Integral LOCA fragmentation test on high-burnup fuel journal October 2020
Additive manufacturing of aluminum nitride ceramics with high thermal conductivity via digital light processing journal March 2022
Neutronics modeling and analysis of the TMSR-SF1 fuel lattice and full core with explicit fuel particle distribution and random pebble loadings journal November 2018
Assembly-level analyses of accident-tolerant cladding concepts for a long-life civil marine SMR core using micro-heterogeneous duplex fuel journal March 2019
A comparison of traditional manufacturing vs additive manufacturing, the best method for the job journal January 2019
The effect of soluble boron and gadolinium distribution on neutronic parameters of small modular reactor assembly journal June 2020
The influence of impurities on the crystal structure and mechanical properties of additive manufactured U–14 at.% Nb journal March 2017
Metal-embedded fiber optic sensor packaging and signal demodulation scheme towards high-frequency dynamic measurements in harsh environments journal September 2020
Evaluation of Tellurium as a Fuel Additive in Neodymium-Containing U-Zr Metallic Fuel journal November 2019
AI-based design of a nuclear reactor core journal October 2021
Fabrication of UN-Mo CERMET Nuclear Fuel Using Advanced Manufacturing Techniques journal December 2020
Thermal Conductivity of UO 2 -BeO Pellet journal February 1996
Irradiation Behavior of Large Grain UO2 Fuel Rod by Active Powder journal June 1998
High-temperature strain monitoring of stainless steel using fiber optics embedded in ultrasonically consolidated nickel layers journal July 2019
A comprehensive review of ultrasonic additive manufacturing journal November 2019
Towards a sustainable and economic selection of part candidates for additive manufacturing journal March 2015
Additive Manufacturing of Dense Alumina Ceramics journal September 2014
Mechanical Packing of Spherical Particles journal October 1961
Alumina and Alumina/Zirconia Multilayer Composites Obtained by Slip Casting journal August 1989
An Evaluation of the Thermophysical Properties of Stoichiometric CeO 2 in Comparison to UO 2 and PuO 2 journal August 2014
Additive Manufacturing of Ceramics: Issues, Potentialities, and Opportunities journal July 2015
Polymer‐derived silicon nitride ceramics by digital light processing based additive manufacturing journal March 2019
Stereolithography‐based additive manufacturing of gray‐colored SiC ceramic green body journal June 2019
3D printing of high‐purity silicon carbide journal October 2019
Thorium: Not a near-term commercial nuclear fuel journal March 2012
Use of Thoria-Urania Fuels in PWRs: A General Review of a NERI Project to Assess Feasible Core Designs, Economics, Fabrication Methods, In-Pile Thermal/Mechanical Behavior, and Waste Form Characteristics journal July 2004
Microheterogeneous Thoria-Urania Fuels for Pressurized Water Reactors journal July 2004
Use of Thorium for Transmutation of Plutonium and Minor Actinides in PWRs journal July 2004
The Behavior of ThO2-Based Fuel Rods during Normal Operation and Transient Events in LWRs journal July 2004
Production of High-Density Uranium Carbide Compacts for Use in Composite Nuclear Fuels journal August 2008
Fabrication of Monolithic RERTR Fuels by Hot Isostatic Pressing journal November 2010
Production and Characterization of ZrC-UC Inert Matrix Composite Fuel for Gas Fast Reactors journal February 2011
Lightbridge Corporation’s Advanced Metallic Fuel for Light Water Reactors journal December 2012
Neutronics Studies of Uranium-Bearing Fully Ceramic Microencapsulated Fuel for Pressurized Water Reactors journal December 2014
Use of Thorium in Light Water Reactors journal August 2005
Annular Fuel for High-Power-Density Pressurized Water Reactors: Motivation and Overview journal October 2007
Effect of Pellet Cracking on Light Water Reactor Fuel Temperatures journal December 1976
Development and Irradiation Performance of Uranium Aluminide Fuels in Test Reactors journal June 1980
Preliminary Study of Cost Benefits Associated with Duplex Fuel Pellets of the LOWI Type journal June 1983
U-Si and U-Si-Ai Dispersion Fuel Alloy Development for Research and Test Reactors journal September 1983
Boron-Nitride–Coated Nuclear Fuels journal October 1996
Local Analysis Technique for the Advanced Neutron Source Reactor Fuel Defect Studies journal March 1997
Additive Manufacturing of Ti-Based Intermetallic Alloys: A Review and Conceptualization of a Next-Generation Machine journal August 2021
Additive Manufacturing as a Solution to Challenges Associated with Heat Pipe Production journal February 2022
Fabrication of U3Si2 Powder for Fuels Used in IEA-R1 Nuclear Research Reactor journal August 2008
Development of High-Density u/al Dispersion Plates for Mo-99 Production Using Atomized Uranium Powder journal December 2013
IRRADIATION PERFORMANCE OF U-Mo MONOLITHIC FUEL journal April 2014