Preparation and Characteristics of ADU gel Particles

HTGR (High Temperature Gas Reactor) energy technology development has been spot-lighted for a clean hydrogen gas and electricity production for the countermeasures of supplying a massive energy production in the next decades because other energies such as solar heat, wind power, and tidal energy, can only produce a small amount of electricity or they are not as effective. Generally, the production of spherical UO2 kernels for a HTGR nuclear fuel can be carried out by wet chemical processes, a sol-gel process, based on a solidification of uranium liquid droplets as a raw material. Sol-gel process is a proper way to produce the UO2 kernel because of its advantages in a high quality of products, low heat treatment temperature, and an easy control of the components. However, there are only a few reports on the preparation of a spherical UO2 kernel by a sol-gel method. In this study, spherical ADU gel particle and UO3 particles via an UN(uranyl nitrate, UO2(NO3) solution as a raw material were prepared. And the characteristics of these liquid droplets and the ADU gel particle prepared with the sol-gel method were analyzed, and the heat treatment characteristics from the ADU gel to UO3 particle were analyzed by a Streoscope, TG/DTA, and X-ray