Characterization of thoria pellets obtained via sol-gel and powder metallurgical routes

Full text: Thorium, as well as uranium, can be used as a nuclear fuel. Although not fissile itself, thorium-232 will absorb slow neutrons to produce uranium-233, which is fissile. The irradiated fuel can then be unloaded from the reactor, the U-233 separated from the thorium and fed back into another reactor as part of a closed fuel cycle. Also, all of the mined thorium is potentially useable in a reactor. Turkey has one of the most thorium resources of the world and thorium is a nuclear fuel candidate for near future.Thoria is a very stable has highest melting point in oxide ceramics. The results showed that preparation methods of thoria powders dramatically affect on end products. Sol-gel method gives higher green and sintered densities at same conditions