Fabrication and testing of uranium nitride fuel for space power reactors

Synthesis and Optimization of the Sintering Kinetics of Actinide Nitrides

“…Of the reactors listed in the table, the ones able to incorporate nitride fuels include: the Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor (GFR), the Lead-Cooled Fast Reactor (LFR), and the Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactor (SFR) [51,52]. The nitrides have been identified for these reactor-types primarily due to their desirable properties such as; high melting temperatures combined with greater actinide densities and greater thermal conductivities when compared to other fuel forms [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. However, due to their propensity for oxidation, handling concerns arise when considering different synthesis techniques and the partial pressure of oxygen is a significant factor in the purity of the nitride materials.…”

“…UN has been considered as an advanced nuclear fuel for space nuclear reactors identified within the SP-100 program as well as developmental fast-spectrum nuclear reactors since the 1970's [11,13,14,[53][54][55][56]. The potential use of nitride fuel forms as high performance nuclear fuels has been previously established.…”

“…Matthews, et al [11] investigated the synthesis of uranium nitride fuel specifically for application of space power reactors and ultimately fabricated a full core of material for the SP-100 program. This work was based upon the methods devised by Muromura, et al [59] and the carbothermic reduction process used to fabricate carbide fuels.…”

“…In Table 2 it is seen that candidate non-fertile and low-fertile fuel forms for Generation IV reactor applications are primarily nitride and oxide fuels. Nitride fuels are favored over the oxide fuels due to their higher density of actinides, lower enrichment, and higher thermal conductivities (by approximately 5-10 times) [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15], leading to lower "burning" temperatures and decreased cladding compatibility concerns. Although the nitrides are more efficient fuel forms, there are some disadvantages associated with them.…”

On the fabrication of ZrC x N y from ZrO 2 via two-step carbothermic reduction–nitridation

“…Carbide and nitride fuels are being considered for application in Generation IV reactors, radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTG) and accelerator driven systems (ADS) [1][2][3]. Fuel materials used in the Gas Cooled Fast Reactor (GFR) nuclear power plant will need to withstand higher temperatures (in the region of 1273-1873K) [4], harsher radiation fields due to the hardened neutron spectrum and possess increased thermophysical properties to improve efficiency of heat transfer in the reactor.…”