MONOLITHIC FUEL FABRICATION PROCESS DEVELOPMENT AT THE IDAHO NATIONAL LABORATORY

Full-size/prototypic U10Mo monolithic fuel-foils and aluminum clad fuel plates are being developed at the Idaho National Laboratory’s (INL) Materials and Fuels Complex (MFC). These efforts are focused on realizing Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) high density monolithic fuel plates for use in High Performance Research and Test Reactors. The U10Mo fuel foils under development afford a fuel meat density of ~16 gU/cc and thus have the potential to facilitate LEU conversions without any significant reactor-performance penalty. An overview is provided of the ongoing monolithic UMo fuel development effort, including application of a zirconium barrier layer on fuel foils, fabrication scale-up efforts, and development of complex/graded fuel foils. Fuel plate clad bonding processes to be discussed include: Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) and Friction Bonding (FB).