Burnup performances of boron nitride and boron coated nuclear fuels

The nuclear fuels of urania (UOV) and 5% and 10% gadolinia (Gd2O3) containing UO2 previously produced by sol-gel technique were coated with first boron nitride (BN) then boron (B) thin layer by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and also by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) techniques to increase the fuel cycle length and to improve the physical properties. From the cross-sectional view of BN and B layers taken from scanning electron microscope (SEM), the excellent adherence of BN onto fuel and B onto BN layer was observed in both cases. The behavior of fuel burnup, depletion of BN and B, the effect of coating thickness and also Gd2O3 content on the burnup performances of the fuels were identified by using the code WIMS-D/4 for Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) and Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) cores. The optimum thickness ratio of B to BN was found as 4 and their thicknesses were chosen as 40 mm and 10 mm respectively in both reactor types to get extended cycle length. The assemblies consisting of fuels with 5% Gd2O3 and also coated with 10 mm BN and 40 mm B layers were determined as candidates for getting higher burnup in both types of reactors