Fuel design for the U.S. accelerator driven transmutation system.

Conference · Mon Feb 18 04:00:00 EST 2002

OSTI ID:792113

Meyer, M K; Hayes, S L; Crawford, D C; Pahl, R G; Tsai, H

The U.S. concept for actinide transmutation is currently envisioned as a system to destroy plutonium as well as minor actinides in a single or two tier system. In order to maximize the actinide destruction rate, an inert matrix fuel is used. The effectiveness of transmutation in reducing the actinide inventory is linked to the development of a robust fuel system, capable of achieving very high burnup. Very little fuel performance data has been generated to date on inert matrix systems, and there are several issues specific to the behavior of higher actinides that do not allow extension of the existing uranium-plutonium fuel database to these new fuels. These issues include helium production, fuel-cladding-chemical-interaction, and americium migration. In the early 1990's, two U-Pu-Zr metal alloy fuel elements containing 1.2 wt.% Am and 1.3 wt.% Np were fabricated and irradiated to approximately 6 at.% burnup in the Experimental Breeder Reactor-II. Postirradiation examination results were not published; however the recent interest in fuel for actinide transmutation has prompted a reexamination of this data. The results of the postirradiation examination of this experiment, including gas sampling, metallography, and gamma scanning are discussed. Available data on inert matrix fuels and other fuels incorporating actinides are used to assess the implications of minor-actinide specific issues on transmuter fuel. Considerations for the design of nitride and oxide fuels, metallic fuels, and metal-matrix dispersion fuels are discussed.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab., IL (US)
• Sponsoring Organization: US Department of Energy (US)
• DOE Contract Number: W-31109-ENG-38
• OSTI ID: 792113
• Report Number(s): ANL/NT/CP-106940
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS
ACCELERATOR DRIVEN TRANSMUTATION
ACTINIDES
BURNUP
DESIGN
FUEL ELEMENTS
PLUTONIUM ALLOYS
POST-IRRADIATION EXAMINATION
URANIUM ALLOYS
ZIRCONIUM ALLOYS