A Study of Fast Reactor Fuel Transmutation in a Candidate Dispersion Fuel Design

Dispersion fuels represent a significant departure from typical ceramic fuels to address swelling and radiation damage in high burnup fuel. Such fuels use a manufacturing process in which fuel particles are encapsulated within a non-fuel matrix. Dispersion fuels have been studied since 1997 as part of an international effort to develop and test very high density fuel types for the Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors (RERTR) program.[1] The Idaho National Laboratory is performing research in the development of an innovative dispersion fuel concept that will meet the challenges of transuranic (TRU) transmutation by providing an integral fission gas plenum within the fuel itself, to eliminate the swelling that accompanies the irradiation of TRU. In this process, a metal TRU vector produced in a separations process is atomized into solid microspheres. The dispersion fuel process overcoats the microspheres with a mixture of resin and hollow carbon microspheres to create a TRUC. The foam may then be heated and mixed with a metal power (e.g., Zr, Ti, or Si) and resin to form a matrix metal carbide, that may be compacted and extruded into fuel elements. In this paper, we perform reactor physics calculations for a core loaded with themore » conceptual fuel design. We will assume a “typical” TRU vector and a reference matrix density. We will employ a fuel and core design based on the Advanced Burner Test Reactor (ABTR) design.[2] Using the CSAS6 and TRITON modules of the SCALE system [3] for preliminary scoping studies, we will demonstrate the feasibility of reactor operations. This paper will describe the results of these analyses.« less