Development of monolithic nuclear fuels for RERTR by hot isostatic pressing

Conference · Tue Jul 15 04:00:00 EDT 2008

OSTI ID:21113546

Jue, J -F; Park, Blair; Chapple, Michael; Moore, Glenn; Keiser, Dennis ^[1]

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1. Idaho National Laboratory, P.O. Box 1625, Idaho Falls, ID 83415 (United States)

The RERTR Program (Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors) is developing advanced nuclear fuels for high power test reactors. Monolithic fuel design provides a higher uranium loading than that of the traditional dispersion fuel design. In order to bond monolithic fuel meat to aluminum cladding, several bonding methods such as roll bonding, friction stir bonding and hot isostatic pressing, have been explored. Hot isostatic pressing is a promising process for low cost, batch fabrication of monolithic RERTR fuel plates. The progress on the development of this process at the Idaho National Laboratory will be presented. Due to the relatively high processing temperature used, the reaction between fuel meat and aluminum cladding to form brittle intermetallic phases may be a concern. The effect of processing temperature and time on the fuel/cladding reaction will be addressed. The influence of chemical composition on the reaction will also be discussed. (author)

• Research Organization: Argonne National Laboratory, Nuclear Engineering Division, RERTR Department, Argonne, IL (United States); Czech Technical University, Prague (Czech Republic)
• OSTI ID: 21113546
• Report Number(s): INIS-US--08N0001
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
ALUMINIUM
BONDING
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
DESIGN
DISPERSIONS
ENRICHMENT
FUEL PLATES
HOT PRESSING
INTERMETALLIC COMPOUNDS
NUCLEAR FUELS
TEST REACTORS
URANIUM