Casting of metallic fuel containing minor actinide additions

Conference · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1992 · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States)

OSTI ID:6669734

Trybus, C L; Henslee, S P ^[1]; Sanecki, J E ^[2]

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1. Argonne National Lab.-West, Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
2. Argonne National Lab., IL (United States)

A significant attribute of the Integral Fast Reactor (IFR) concept is the transmutation of long-lived minor actinide fission products. These isotopes require isolation for thousands of years, and if they could be removed from the waste, disposal problems would be reduced. The IFR utilizes pyroprocessing of metallic fuel to separate auranium, plutonium, and the minor actinides from nonfissionable constituents. These materials are reintroduced into the fuel and reirradiated. Spent IFR fuel is expected to contain low levels of americium, neptunium, and curium because the hard neutron spectrum should transmute these isotopes as they are produced. This opens the possibility of using an IFR to trnasmute minor actinide waste from conventional light water reactors (LWRs). A standard IFR fuel is based on the alloy U-20% Pu-10% Zr (in weight percent). A metallic fuel system eases the requirements for reprocessing methods and enables the minor actinide metals to be incorporated into the fuel with simple modifications to the basic fuel casting process. In this paper, the authors report the initial casting experience with minor actinide element addition to an IFR U-Pu-Zr metallic fuel.

• OSTI ID: 6669734
• Report Number(s): CONF-921102--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States) Journal Volume: 66
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

050700* -- Nuclear Fuels-- Fuels Production & Properties
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
ACTINIDE BURNER REACTORS
ACTINIDES
ALLOY NUCLEAR FUELS
CASTING
ELEMENTS
ENERGY SOURCES
EPITHERMAL REACTORS
EXPERIMENTAL REACTORS
FABRICATION
FAST REACTORS
FISSION PRODUCTS
FUELS
IFR REACTOR
ISOTOPES
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
METALS
NUCLEAR FUELS
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT
REACTOR MATERIALS
REACTORS
RESEARCH AND TEST REACTORS
SOLID FUELS
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT
ZERO POWER REACTORS