Abstract
Ceramic-metallic nuclear fuels are a candidate fuel for nuclear thermal propulsion systems due to their high heat transport properties, which are necessary in very high-temperature environments. The conventional fabrication of uranium nitride–molybdenum fuel has been thoroughly studied in the past, but modern manufacturing techniques have presented a unique opportunity for further development within this field. This work demonstrates the use of advanced manufacturing techniques to produce nuclear fuel pellets composed of uranium nitride microspheres encased in a molybdenum matrix. Binder jetting is used to print molybdenum disks that are filled with uranium nitride microspheres and afterward sintered using spark plasma sintering. Two fuel pellets were fabricated to demonstrate the methodology and to provide a baseline analysis of the effects of temperature and pressure processing conditions. Characterization of the sintered fuel pellets includes detailed microstructural analysis and thermal conductivity measurements.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 815-824 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Nuclear Technology |
| Volume | 207 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2021 |
Funding
This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the DOE. The U.S. government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the U.S. government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for U.S. government purposes. DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan ( http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan ). The authors would like to acknowledge Rodney Hunt and Jake McMurray for their contributions in producing the UN feedstock materials and Austin Schumacher for his initial efforts in design. Desarae Godsby and Derek Siddel are recognized for producing the binder jetted molybdenum parts at the Manufacturing Demonstration Facility. Last, Jeff Pryor, Stephanie Curlin, and Hsin Wang are acknowledged for their efforts in characterization. This work was supported by the Transformational Challenge Reactor under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Nuclear Energy. The authors would like to acknowledge Rodney Hunt and Jake McMurray for their contributions in producing the UN feedstock materials and Austin Schumacher for his initial efforts in design. Desarae Godsby and Derek Siddel are recognized for producing the binder jetted molybdenum parts at the Manufacturing Demonstration Facility. Last, Jeff Pryor, Stephanie Curlin, and Hsin Wang are acknowledged for their efforts in characterization. This work was supported by the Transformational Challenge Reactor under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Nuclear Energy. This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the DOE. The U.S. government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the U.S. government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for U.S. government purposes. DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan).
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| DOE Public Access Plan | |
| U.S. Government | |
| U.S. Department of Energy | |
| Office of Nuclear Energy | DE-AC05-00OR22725 |
Keywords
- Ceramic-metallic
- advanced manufacturing
- nuclear fuel
- nuclear thermal propulsion
- spark plasma sintering
