The objective of FUTURIX-FTA experiment is to increase the understanding of fuels containing significant quantities of minor actinides. Eight pins: metallic, nitride, CERMET and CERCER fuels prepared by the DOE (INL, LANL), ITU (MALAB) and CEA (ATALANTE) will be irradiated in PHENIX reactor. This experiment will provide essential data concerning behaviour under irradiation and will allow qualification and validation of models developed to predict fuel performance.
DOE is performing the fabrication and characterization of two metallic fuel alloys, U-29Pu-4Am-2Np-30Zr and Pu-12Am-40Zr, and two nitride fuel compositions, (U0.50,Pu0.25,Am0.15,Np0.10)N and (Pu0.50,Am0.50)N+36wt per cent ZrN. These fuel compositions have already been tested in the Advanced Test Reactor to a peak burnup of 8per cent and are currently undergoing post irradiation examination. Fuel crystallographic structures, microstructure and their thermal properties have been measured. At ITU, two CERMET composite fuel types are proposed, a zirconia based compound (Am,Pu,Zr)O2-x and a mixed oxide (Am,Pu)O2-x, which are mixed with Mo powder that acts as the fuel matrix. The fabrication process is based on particles
containing the actinide phase produced by a combination of the sol gel external gelation, GSP, and the infiltration methods followed by compacting and sintering.
At CEA, two CERCER composite oxide fuel types are manufactured by an oxalic co-conversion and by powder metallurgy. The resulting microstructure, performed by SEM, shows a good homogeneity and fissile repartition in the magnesia matrix. A cubic
centred structure with O/M=1.66 and a face-centred cubic lattice with a O/M=1.93 are found for (Pu0,5Am0,5)Ox-MgO(70 per cent vol) fuel. For the (Pu0,2Am0,8)Ox-MgO(65 per cent vol) component a single monoclinic phase structure with O/ M=1.64 is measured.
DONNET L.;
JORION F.;
DRIN N.;
HAYES S.L.;
KENNEDY J.R.;
PASAMEHMETOGLU K.;
VOIT S.L.;
HAAS Didier;
FERNANDEZ CARRETERO Asuncion;
2007-01-18
Atomic Energy Society of Japan (AESJ)
JRC30320
https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC30320,
