Performance evaluation of large U-Mo particle dispersed fuel irradiated in HANARO

U-Mo/Al dispersion fuel is being developed as advanced fuel for research reactors. Irradiation behavior of U-Mo/Al dispersion fuel has been studied to evaluate its fuel performance. One of the performance limiting factors is a chemical interaction between the U-Mo particle and the Al matrix because the thermal conductivity of fuel meat is decreased with the interaction layer growth. In order to overcome the interaction problem, large-sized U-Mo particles were fabricated by controlling the centrifugal atomization conditions. The fuel performance behavior of U-Mo/Al dispersion fuel was estimated by using empirical models formulated based on the microstructural analyses of the post-irradiation examination (PIE) on U-Mo/Al dispersion fuel irradiated in HANARO reactor. Temperature histories of U-Mo/Al dispersion fuel during tests were estimated by considering the effect of an interaction layer growth on the thermal conductivity of the fuel meat. When the fuel performances of the dispersion fuel rods containing U-Mo particles were compared, fuel temperature was decreased as the average U-Mo particle size was increased. It was found that the dispersion of a larger U-Mo particle was effective for mitigating the thermal degradation which is associated with an interaction layer growth