Mn-doped oxide nuclear fuel

Patent · Tue Nov 24 00:00:00 EST 2020

OSTI ID:1771664

Cooper, Michael William Donald; Andersson, Anders David Ragnar; Stanek, Christopher Richard

A nuclear fuel includes uranium(IV) oxide (UO2) and manganese (Mn) as a dopant. The Mn dopant may be present in the fuel in an amount up to the solubility limit for Mn under a given set of conditions, for example, about 0.01 wt % to about 1 wt %. The nuclear fuel is substantially free of aluminum (Al). The nuclear fuel exhibits enhanced grain size development during sintering temperatures as low at 1400 K due to an increase in uranium sub-lattice vacancies induced by dissolution of the Mn dopant at interstitial defect sites. The Mn-doped nuclear fuel exhibits improved grain sizes at lower temperatures compared to Cr-, Al-, and undoped UO2, and therefore desirably exhibits lower fission gas release and higher plasticity, reducing the chances of fuel rod failure.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC52-06NA25396
• Assignee: Triad National Security, LLC (Los Alamos, NM)
• Patent Number(s): 10,847,271
• Application Number: 16/101,808
• OSTI ID: 1771664
• Resource Relation: Patent File Date: 08/13/2018
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English