Fabrication of thin-wall annular pellets (AWBA development program)

Technical Report · Sat May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1982

OSTI ID:5057700

Burke, T J

A compaction technique for the preparation of as-sintered high density thin-wall (0.050 in.) annular fuel pellets having inside walls straight and parallel to the pellet axis has been developed. This development was undertaken to produce straight walled fuel annuli for a two-region pellet containing a high density solid thoria central pellet. UO/sub 2/ and UO/sub 2/-ThO/sub 2/ annular pellets were pressed with length to diameter ratios of 1.0 to 2.0 to establish the optimum conditions for dimensional control. Optimum wall straightness was obtained by control of the axial density gradient in the as-pressed compact. A tapered core rod was used to obtain parallelism between the inside wall and the pellet axis.

• Research Organization: Bettis Atomic Power Lab., Pittsburgh, PA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC11-76PN00014
• OSTI ID: 5057700
• Report Number(s): WAPD-TM-1476; ON: DE82022072
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

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11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
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210500 -- Power Reactors
Breeding
ACTINIDE COMPOUNDS
BREEDER REACTORS
CHALCOGENIDES
COMPACTING
FUEL PELLETS
LWBR TYPE REACTORS
MATERIALS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PELLETS
REACTORS
SINTERED MATERIALS
THERMAL REACTORS
THORIUM COMPOUNDS
THORIUM OXIDES
URANIUM COMPOUNDS
URANIUM OXIDES
WATER COOLED REACTORS
WATER MODERATED REACTORS