Development Status of Transuranic-Bearing Metal Fuels Kemal O. - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Development Status of Transuranic-Bearing Metal Fuels

Kemal O. Pasamehmetoglu

AFCI Transmutation Fuels Campaign Director The 10th Actinide & Fission Product Partitioning and Transmutation Information Exchange Meeting

October 8, 2008 (Mito, Japan)

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Both fabrication and performance of transmutation fuels offer challenges compared to traditional fuels

 Focus to date on metal and oxide fast reactor fuels

– Group TRU fuels for homogeneous transmutation – Driver fuels (U,Pu, Np?) and MA targets (Am or Am-Cm)

 Emphasis on fabrication and performance simultaneously  Transmutation fuels are quite different than conventional fuels

• Multiple elements in the fuel

U, Pu, Np, Am, Cm

• Varying thermodynamic properties

e.g. High vapor pressure of Am

• Impurities from separation process

e.g. High lanthanide carryover

• High burnup requirements
• High helium production during irradiation
• Remote fabrication & quality control
• Fuel must be qualified for a variable range of composition
• Age and burnup of LWR SNF
• Introduction of first tier recycle in LWR
• Changes through multiple passes in FR
• Variable conversion ratio for FR

Targeted Testing Modeling & Simulation

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U.S. has considerable experience with the use of metal fuel for sodium-cooled fast reactors

 The bulk of the experience comes from EBR-II and FFTF tests.  Metal fuel was the preferred option for the IFR program in the U.S. when the program was terminated.  U-Pu-Zr alloys were irradiated up to > 19% burnup.

– 2-σ temperature irradiations up to 12% without breach

 In the beginning of the ATW program, U.S. considered metal fuel as a strong option for transmutation applications.

Campaig n Mark-I / IA Mark- II/IIC/IICS Mark-III / II I A Mark-IV Mark-V / VA * Fuel alloy (wt% ) U-5Fs U-5Fs and U-10Zr U-10Zr U-10Zr U-20Pu-10Z r

235U Enrichment (% )

5 2 67-78 66.9 69.6 Variabl e Slug Diameter (mm ) 3.66 3.30 4.39 4.27 4.27-4.39 Smeared density (% ) 8 5 7 5 7 5 7 5 7 5 Burn up limit (at% ) 2.6 8.9 1 0 N/A TBD Plenum to fuel volume ratio 0.18 0.68-1.01 1.45 1.45 1.45 Cladding material SS 304 L SS304L and SS 316 CW 316 and CW D9 HT 9 HT 9 and CW 316

*Conversion to the Mark-V / -VA fuel types was not started before EBR-II was terminally shut down in 1994.

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X501 Experiments in EBR-II (1990’s)

Initial research on MA transmutation (IFR) – Discharged short of target burnup (10%)

– Partial PIE completed

Target composition: U-20ZPu-10Zr-2.1Am-1.3Np As fabricated composition: U-20.2Pu-9.1Zr-1.2Am-1.3Np High Am loss during fabrication Performed well to 7.9% HM burnup – Typical U-Pu-Zr fuel behavior

– High helium release; typical FG release – No FCCI observed – No Am redistribution to clad inner wall

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East Flux Trap

4 2 5 1 3 6 7

AFCI Fuels Testing in ATR East Flux Trap

 4 Capsule Positions in EFT

– Cd baskets in 1,2,3,4 – 6 rodlets per capsule – LHGR to 500 W/cm – PICT to 650°C – Capsule pressure to 975 psi

1.0E-10 1.0E-8 1.0E-6 1.0E-4 1.0E-2 1.0E+0 1.0E+2

Energy in MeV

1.0E+8 1.0E+9 1.0E+10 1.0E+11 1.0E+12 1.0E+13 1.0E+14 Without CD-shroud With CD-shroud

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AFC Fuel Test Series in the ATR

AFC-1 AFC-2 AFC-3 AFC-4

Test Strategy

Scoping – Many compositions Scoping – Focused compositions Focused compositions Focused compositions Nominal conditions Nominal conditions Nominal & limiting conditions Nominal conditions

Capsule Type

Drop-in Drop-in Instrumented lead Drop-in

Fuel Types

Metals Nitrides Metals Oxides Metals Oxides Metals Oxides

Key Features

Baseline + MA Baseline + MA + RE Temperature control Recycle feed Remote fabrication

Time Frame

FY 2003 – FY 2008 FY 2008 – FY 2013 + FY 2010 – FY 2013 FY 2011 – FY 2014 Test series in progress. Future test series.

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AFC-1B and AFC-1F Metallic Transmutation Fuels (Evaluation Completed)

AFC-1B Pu-12Am-40Zr Pu-10Am-10Np-40Zr Pu-40Zr Pu-12Am-40Zr Pu-60Zr AFC-1F U-29Pu-4Am-2Np-30Zr U-34Pu-4Am-2Np-20Zr U-25Pu-3Am-2Np-40Zr U-29Pu-4Am-2Np-30Zr U-28Pu-7Am-30Zr U-25Pu-3Am-2Np-40Zr

• AFC-1D: same compositions as

AFC-1B irradiated to higher burnups (30% or greater)

• Recently discharged

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U-25Pu-3Am-2Np-40Zr 6 U-28Pu-7Am-30Zr 5 U-29Pu-4Am-2Np-30Zr 4 U-25Pu-3Am-2Np-40Zr 3 U-34Pu-4Am-2Np-20Zr 2 U-29Pu-4Am-2Np-30Zr 1 AFC-1H Rodlet Dummy 6 Dummy 5 Pu-10Np-40Zr 4 (U0.50, Pu0.25, Am0.15, Np0.10)N 3 Dummy 2 Pu-10Np-40Zr 1 AFC-1G Rodlet

 Inserted April 2005  AFC-1G (burnup ~30%) discharged waiting for PIE  AFC-1H (burnup 40%) to be discharged soon

AFC-1G and AFC-1H Experiments’ Status

East Flux Trap Irradiation Housing

4 2 5 1 3 6 7

East Flux Trap Irradiation Housing

4 2 5 1 3 6 7

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AFC-2A and AFC-2B Experiments’ Status

 Inserted October 2007  AFC-2A: Burnup 10 at.% (Recently discharged)  AFC-2B: Burnup objective is 25 at.% (Soon to be discharged)

4 2 5 1 3 6 7

East Flux Trap Irradiation Housing

RE=6% La, 16% Pr, 25% Ce, 53% Nd U-30Pu-5Am-3Np-20Zr 6 U-30Pu-5Am-3Np-1.0RE-20Zr 5 U-30Pu-5Am-3Np-1.5RE-20Zr 4 U-20Pu-3Am-2Np-1.5RE-15Zr 3 U-20Pu-3Am-2Np-1.0RE-15Zr 2 U-20Pu-3Am-2Np-15Zr 1 AFC-2A (position 2) & 2B (position 3) Rodlet

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FUTURIX-FTA Status—Metallic Fuels

 Four FUTURIX-FTA nitride and metal fuel samples and sodium-bonded rodlets are fabricated and shipped to France for irradiation in Phenix reactor. – Nitride pellets are fabricated at LANL, sodium-bounding and pin fabrication completed at INL. – Metal fuel slugs and the sodium bounded pins are fabricated at INL.  Irradiation of metal fuels along with oxides fabricated in Europe started in May 2007  The irradiation tests will be completed in May-June 2009 and irradiated fuel samples will be shipped to the U.S. for PIE.  Pu-12Am-40Zr and U-29Pu-4Am-2Np-30Zr

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Advanced Casting Studies

 Advanced casting system technology must – Retain volatile elements (Am) – Applicable for hot cell use – Increase melt usage – Reduce materials losses and waste production  Developmental approach will be taken – Bench-scale system (BCS) – Engineering-scale system (ECS) – Advanced Casting System (ACS)

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Transmutation Metal Fuels - Summary & Conclusions

 Considerable characterization activities continue – Measurement of thermodynamic properties – Phase Diagrams/Phase Distribution/Microstructure – Diffusion-couple measurements

 Considerable effort in looking at cladding development

– High-fluence data on HT-9 (200 dpa) – Looking at advanced options (ODS) – Considering lined/coated cladding options

 Technical feasibility of MA-bearing metal fuels is demonstrated (>10% burnup)  Advanced modeling and simulation is being used to cover the range of compositions that are of interest  Engineering feasibility of large scale fabrication needs additional work

– Casting simulations are being used to optimize the fabrication processes Fe Zr Fuel CLAD