Development of production processes for mixed (U-Pu) oxides suitable for fast and thermal reactor fuel

The paper discusses the results of studies aimed at developing production processes for fast and thermal reactor mixed U-Pu fuel: sol-gel spheres; granular oxides through ammonia precipitation; oxides through carbonate precipitation. The merits and disadvantages of the methods are considered. The features of the process implementation are discussed. The developments have reached the level of semi-commercial testing in the course of which large batches of mixed fuel have been produced; pilot fuel assemblies have been fabricated for the fast reactor BN-600. (author)