Plutonium fuel fabrication at BARC (Preprint no. IT-13)

Plutonium fuel fabrication in India was initiated nearly two decades ago when the core for the PURNIMA research reactor at BARC, consisting of SS 316 clad PuO2 pins was prepared at Radiometallurgy Division (RMD). This was soon followed by fabrication of Al clad Al-Pu plate fuel elements and sub-assemblies, the experience of which was recently utilised for production of Al clad Al-23% Pu plate fuel subassemblies for PURNIMA III. During the last 15 years extensive research and development have been carried out on fabrication of plutonium bearing ceramic fuel pellets at RMD. The fuels developed so far include: (i) (U,Pu)O2 and (Th,PU)O2 containing upto 6% Pu for pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWR), (ii) mixed uranium plutonium oxide (MOX), monocarbide (MC) and mononitride (MN) containing between 20% and nearly 70% Pu for liquid metal cooled fast breeder reactors (LMFBR). A sophisticated carbide laboratory has been set up, where the fabrication of (Usub(0.3)Pusub(0.7))C fuel pellets and pins for the first core of fast breeder test reactor (FBTR) has been successfully completed. Presently, the facility is being utilised for development of MOX, MC and MN fuels for the forthcomming prototype fast breeder reactor (PFBR). Conventional powder-pellet and advanced sol-gel microsphere pelletisation (SGMP) processes have been developed for fabrication of MOX, MC and MN pellets. (author). 15 refs., 3 tabs., 12 figs