Monolithic fuel plate production at Argonne National Laboratory.

Initial fabrication results of U-Mo dispersion fuel have shown a practical uranium loading limit below that required to successfully convert some of the targeted research reactors to low-enriched uranium. In addition, irradiation tests have shown that U-Mo dispersion fuel suffers from interaction between the fuel and the aluminum matrix at higher temperatures. A potential solution to mitigate these phenomena is to use a fuel alloy foil in place of the fuel-aluminum dispersion. This monolithic fuel provides a lower fuel-matrix interfacial surface area and a much higher uranium density than dispersion type fuel. Lacking the compliant matrix of dispersion fuel types, monolithic fuel production requires the development of new fabrication methods. Research efforts at Argonne National Laboratory have resulted in the demonstration of a viable monolithic fuel plate production method, which is described in this paper.