Effect of impurities on the microstructure of DUPIC fuel pellets using the SIMFUEL technique
- 1. Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)
Description
The influence of fission products' contents on the DUPIC fuel powder and pellet properties was experimentally evaluated using SIMFUEL as a surrogate for actual spent PWR fuel due to the high radioactivity of spent fuel. Pure UO2 and SIMFUEL pellets with fission products equivalent to a burn-up of 35,000 MWd/tU and 60,000 MWd/tU were used as impurities in this study. The specific surface area of the powder milled after the OREOX treatment increased and resulted in sintered pellets with a Theoretical Density (TD) higher than 95%, regardless of the impurity contents. However, the grain size of the sintered pellets decreased with the increasing impurity contents. As a result of the dissolved oxides in UO2 from the impurity groups, the specific surface area of the OREOX powder increased with an increase of the impurities. The grain size of the sintered pellets was significantly decreased by the metallic and oxide precipitates
Additional details
Publishing Information
- Journal Title
- Nuclear Engineering and Technology
- Journal Volume
- 40
- Journal Issue
- 3
- Series
- 14 refs, 6 figs, 4 tabs
- Journal Page Range
- p. 191-198
- ISSN
- 1738-5733
INIS
- Country of Publication
- Korea, Republic of
- Country of Input or Organization
- Korea, Republic of
- INIS RN
- 40052447
- Subject category
- S11: NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS; S12: MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE WASTES, AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES;
- Descriptors DEI
- FISSION PRODUCTS; FUEL PELLETS; GRAIN SIZE; PWR TYPE REACTORS; SINTERED MATERIALS; SPENT FUELS
- Descriptors DEC
- ENERGY SOURCES; ENRICHED URANIUM REACTORS; FUELS; ISOTOPES; MATERIALS; MICROSTRUCTURE; NUCLEAR FUELS; PELLETS; POWER REACTORS; RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS; REACTOR MATERIALS; REACTORS; SIZE; THERMAL REACTORS; WATER COOLED REACTORS; WATER MODERATED REACTORS