Uranium mononitride as a potential commercial LWR fuel
Conference
·
OSTI ID:22107888
- Westinghouse Electric Company, LLC, 5801 Bluff Rd, Columbia, SC 29209 (United States)
This paper evaluated uranium mononitride (UN) as a potential replacement for 5% enriched UO{sub 2} fuel in Generation III and III+ commercial light water reactors (LWRs). Significant improvement in LWR performance depends on developing and implementing changes in the nuclear fuel used in these reactors. Compared to UO{sub 2}, UN offers several advantages such as higher uranium loading and better thermal conductivity. In this paper, the thermal safety margin of UN was evaluated at both normal and accident conditions using a readily available coupled CFD model developed for the US DOE CASL program. One of the prime technical challenges in utilization of UN as LWR fuel is the water compatibility because pure phase UN is not stable in water at 350 deg. C. The water corrosion resistance of UN and the corrosion mechanism were reviewed and mitigation methods were proposed. (authors)
- Research Organization:
- American Nuclear Society, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 22107888
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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