Abstract
In collaboration with industry, Idaho National Laboratory is investigating uranium silicide for use in future light water reactor fuels as a more accident resistant alternative to uranium oxide base fuels. Specifically this project was focused on producing uranium silicide (U3Si2) pellets by conventional powder metallurgy with a density greater than 94% of the theoretical density. This work has produced a process to consistently produce pellets with the desired density through careful optimization of the process. Milling of the U3Si2 has been optimized and high phase purity U3Si2 has been successfully produced. Results are presented from sintering studies and microstructural examinations that illustrate the need for a finely ground reproducible particle size distribution in the source powder. The optimized process was used to produce pellets for the Accident Tolerant Fuel-1 irradiation experiment. The average density of these pellets was 11.54 ± 0.06 g/cm3. Additional characterization of the pellets by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction has also been performed. Pellets produced in this work have been encapsulated for irradiation, and irradiation in the Advanced Test Reactor is expected soon.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 728-738 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Journal of Nuclear Materials |
Volume | 466 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Nov 2015 |
Externally published | Yes |
Funding
This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy . This work is also part of a collaboration led by Westinghouse Electric Company comprising several national laboratories, vendors, and universities awarded in response to the DE- FOA-0000712 funding opportunity. The authors would like to acknowledge the assistance of the support staff associated with the Fuels Applied Science Building at INL. Several technicians helped to contribute to this work including Blair Park, Jakeob Maupin, Kevin Hays, and Micheal Chapple. The authors would also like to acknowledge Michael Benson, Leah Squires, and Thomas Hartmann for their assistance with XRD analysis.