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What is Improved UO2 fuel – Doped UO2 – Definition

Regarding the improved UO2 fuel, this particular design was divided into two sub-concepts, such as: Doped UO2. Desirable attributes for accident-tolerant fuel (ATF) pellets include enhancing the retention of fission products (FPs).

Most of PWRs use the uranium fuel, which is in the form of uranium dioxide. Uranium dioxide is a black semiconducting solid with very low thermal conductivity. On the other hand the uranium dioxide has very high melting point and has well known behavior. The UO2 is pressed into pellets, these pellets are then sintered into the solid cylinder (with a height, and diameter of about 1 centimeter, the height being greater than the diameter). The dimensions of the fuel pellets and other components of the fuel assembly are precisely controlled to ensure consistency in the characteristics of the fuel. These pellets are then loaded and encapsulated within a fuel rod (a metallic cladding tube), which is made of zirconium alloys due to its very low absorption cross-section (unlike the stainless steel). The surface of the tube, which covers the pellets, is called fuel cladding. Fuel rods are base element of a fuel assembly. Fuel rods have the purpose of containing fission products, ensuring mechanical support for the pellets, and allowing the heat removal to the coolant fluid of the heat generated by nuclear reactions. Typical fuel rod, has a length of some 4 m, with a diameter of around 1 cm. An 1100 MWe (3300 MWth) nuclear core may contain 157 fuel assemblies composed of over 45,000 fuel rods and some 15 million fuel pellets.

Advanced Fuel Pellets

 According to the NEA report, the fuel designs covered by the Task Force on Advanced Fuel Designs consist of three different concepts:

  • Improved UO2 fuel. Regarding the improved UO2 fuel, this particular design was divided into two sub-concepts, such as oxide-doped UO2 and high-thermal conductivity UO2 (designed by adding metallic or ceramic dopant).
  • High-density fuel.
  • Encapsulated fuel (TRISO-SiC-composite pellets).

Special Reference: Nuclear Energy Agency, State-of-the-Art Report on Light Water Reactor Accident-Tolerant Fuel. NEA No.7317, OECD, 2018.

Improved UO2 fuel

Most of PWRs use the uranium fuel, which is in the form of uranium dioxide. Uranium dioxide is a black semiconducting solid with very low thermal conductivity. On the other hand the uranium dioxide has very high melting point and has well known behavior. The UO2 is pressed into pellets, these pellets are then sintered into the solid cylinder (with a height, and diameter of about 1 centimeter, the height being greater than the diameter).

Regarding the improved UO2 fuel, this particular design was divided into two sub-concepts, such as:

  • Doped UO2.  Desirable attributes for accident-tolerant fuel (ATF) pellets include enhancing the retention of fission products (FPs) and  minimising  pellet-cladding  interaction.  According to Westinghouse proposals, chromia (Cr2O3) and alumina  (Al2O3) doped UO2 pellet, known as our ADOPT pellet, achieves greater uranium efficiency through:
    • Increased density of fissile material
    • A higher creep rate than standard UO2 at high temperatures
    • A higher thermal stability
    • Reduced wash-out in the event of a fuel rod leaker
    • Reduction of fission gas release in a transient scenario
  • High-thermal conductivity UO2 (designed by adding metallic or ceramic dopant). Uranium dioxide is a black semiconducting solid with very low thermal conductivity. The thermal conductivity is one of parameters, which determine the fuel centerline temperature. This low thermal conductivity can result in localised overheating in the fuel centerline and therefore this overheating must be avoided. The concept of cermet (ceramic-metallic) fuel for LWRs is considered. With a low volume  fraction of highly conductive metallic additive, the CERMET fuel pellets present a higher conductivity than UO2 standard pellets, lowering the fuel  temperature  in  normal operating conditions and increasing the margins with respect to fuel melting in case of an accident.
References:
Materials Science:

U.S. Department of Energy, Material Science. DOE Fundamentals Handbook, Volume 1 and 2. January 1993.
U.S. Department of Energy, Material Science. DOE Fundamentals Handbook, Volume 2 and 2. January 1993.
William D. Callister, David G. Rethwisch. Materials Science and Engineering: An Introduction 9th Edition, Wiley; 9 edition (December 4, 2013), ISBN-13: 978-1118324578.
Eberhart, Mark (2003). Why Things Break: Understanding the World by the Way It Comes Apart. Harmony. ISBN 978-1-4000-4760-4.
Gaskell, David R. (1995). Introduction to the Thermodynamics of Materials (4th ed.). Taylor and Francis Publishing. ISBN 978-1-56032-992-3.
González-Viñas, W. & Mancini, H.L. (2004). An Introduction to Materials Science. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-07097-1.
Ashby, Michael; Hugh Shercliff; David Cebon (2007). Materials: engineering, science, processing and design (1st ed.). Butterworth-Heinemann. ISBN 978-0-7506-8391-3.
J. R. Lamarsh, A. J. Baratta, Introduction to Nuclear Engineering, 3d ed., Prentice-Hall, 2001, ISBN: 0-201-82498-1.

See above:
Accident Tolerant Fuel

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