The Possible Use of Cermet Fuel in the Dido and Pluto Heavy-Water Research Reactors,

Abstract

International restrictions on the supply or highly enriched uranium have resulted in the requirement to fuel research reactors with a lower-enrichment uranium fuel. A study has been made of the feasibility of using low-enrichment fuels of a new type in the DIDO and PLUTO reactors. This work has been done as a contribution to the studies currently being carried out internationally on the implications of using lower-enrichment fuels in heavy-water-moderated research reactors. The uranium content of the U/Al alloy at present used cannot be increased sufficiently to maintain the requisite U235 content without undesirable effects on the physical properties of the alloy. A different type of fuel will therefore be required to maintain the desired nuclear characteristics. A possible solution to the problem is the use of a cermet (U3O8/Al) fuel material. This paper describes a preliminary study of the feasibility of this concept from the heat-transfer and safety viewpoints. (Author)

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 01, 1981
Accession Number
ADA106126

Entities

People

  • T. D. A. Kennedy

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Conductivity
  • Energy Transfer
  • Fluids
  • Heat Capacity
  • Heat Energy
  • Heat Flux
  • Heat Of Fusion
  • Heat Transfer
  • Heat Transfer Coefficients
  • Heavy Water
  • Latent Heat
  • Materials
  • Nuclear Materials
  • Particles
  • Physical Properties
  • Research Reactors
  • Thermal Conductivity

Readers

  • Nuclear Non-Proliferation and International Security
  • Surface Engineering/Surface Coating Technology.
  • Systems Analysis and Design