Irradiation of Thorium - Plutonium Mixed Oxide Fuel to 40 GWd/tonne in the Obrigheim Pressurised Water Reactor (KWO)

In this irradiation experiment, (Th,Pu)O2 pellets were fabricated from powders, prepared using a sol gel method, to give a product exhibiting an atomically homogeneous distribution of the elements. The fuel pellets, of conventional pressurised water reactor (PWR) dimensions, were encapsulated in zircaloy cladding, before being shipped to KWO Obrigheim for irradiation. The capsule was loaded in a guide tube of a conventional uranium MOX assembly, where it was irradiated for four reactor cycles, reaching a burnup of 37.7 GWd/tonne. Intermediate inspections of the rodlet were made between each reactor cycle, and on completion of irradiation. Thereafter, the rod was returned to the ITU hot cells for post irradiation examination. Initial results have shown that an excellent behaviour of the fuel was obtained.

SOMERS Joseph;  PAPAIOANNOU Dimitrios;  SOMMER Dieter; 

2010-07-27

French Nuclear Energy Society (SFEN)

JRC56076

https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC56076,