ADVANCED TEST REACTOR (ATR) CONVERSION TO LOW ENRICHED URANIUM (LEU) FUEL
- Idaho National Laboratory
The United States Department of Energy (DOE), National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Office of Material Management and Minimization (MMM) is working to convert research reactors globally from highly enriched uranium (HEU) fuel to low-enriched uranium (LEU) fuel. MMM and its predecessor programs have converted or verified the shutdown of 88 HEU research reactors and isotope production facilities, using LEU fuel developed in the 1980s. However, there is a small set of high performance research reactors which require a new high density LEU fuel for conversion, including six U.S. high performance research reactors (USHPRRs), which include the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) and the ATR Critical (ATRC) Facility at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) near Idaho Falls, ID; University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR) at Columbia, MO; Massachusetts Institute of Technology Reactor (MITR) at MIT in Cambridge, MA; High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) near Oak Ridge, TN; and National Bureau of Standards Reactor (NBSR) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Center for Neutron Research (NCNR) in Gaithersburg, MA. These reactors will share the same uranium-molybdenum (U-Mo) fuel plate design. The U-Mo fuel meat foil will have a zirconium (Zr) diffusion barrier with aluminum cladding. Three different application methods for the Zr diffusion barrier layer are being pursued – co-rolled, electroplating and plasma spraying. Fabrication of the higher density LEU U-Mo fuel has presented several challenges. Because the U-Mo fuel fabrication process uses the existing stockpile of 93% highly enriched uranium (HEU) to be blended with molybdenum and depleted uranium (DU) to form 19.75% LEU, cost benefits of enriching to 19.75% will not be realized. Homogeneity of the U-235 and molybdenum in the metal foil is a challenge due to U-Mo casting process results in variations between adjacent cast U-Mo plates. LEU will not require less U-235 as previously believed due to self-shielding properties of U-238 requiring additional U-235 to be loaded in each fuel element. Although the overall dimensions of the ATR fuel element remain unchanged, the weight of the LEU ATR fuel element is 72% greater than a HEU ATR fuel element. During waste recovery and recycling efforts, separation of aluminum cladding from the HEU fuel meat is a relatively simple chemical dissolution, however, separation of the Zr diffusion barrier from the U-Mo fuel meat is significantly more challenging.
- Research Organization:
- Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC07-05ID14517
- OSTI ID:
- 1471577
- Report Number(s):
- INL/CON-17-42010-Rev000
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 2017 National Organization of Test, Research, and Training Reactors (TRTR), San Diego, CA, 09/17/2017 - 09/21/2017
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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