Setting up of a sol-gel demonstration facility for the preparation of soft (Th, U)O₂ microspheres for sol-gel microsphere pelletization

A sol-gel demonstration facility is set up in Fuel Chemistry Division (FCD) with an objective to employ Sol-Gel Microsphere Pelletization (SGMP) process for the fabrication of AHWR fuel, at a laboratory scale in collaboration with Radio Metallurgy Division (RMD). In this collaborative program, soft mixed oxide microspheres (1 kg/day scale) were prepared in FCD and pelletization of the microspheres and sintering was carried out in RMD. This report describes the details of the equipment used in the sol-gel assembly and the process parameters optimised for obtaining good quality crack free (Th, U)O2 microspheres containing 4 mole % uranium suitable for pelletization. (author)