Open AccessPreparation for reactor tests of uranium-zirconium carbonitride fuel
Author(s) -
A N Bakhin,
S. S. Bazyuk,
V Yu Vishnevsky,
V. M. Repnikov,
A. Yu. Kotov,
Dmitry S. Kiselev,
Dmitry A. Zaitsev,
B N Bespechalov,
E M Titkova,
Kirill Vicheslavovich Stoykov,
Yu V Garmay
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of physics. conference series
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.21
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1742-6596
pISSN - 1742-6588
DOI - 10.1088/1742-6596/1683/3/032040
Subject(s) - cladding (metalworking) , nuclear engineering , uranium , materials science , zirconium , pellets , inertia , metallurgy , composite material , engineering , physics , classical mechanics
Uranium-zirconium carbonitride based fuel (CNF) is a consequential modification of UN retaining almost all the advantages of UN. This fuel boasts rather high uranium content and high heat conductivity. Uranium-zirconium carbonitride fuel is safer due to its higher tolerance (inertia) to accident processes development. Thanks to its properties, the CNF is an attractive candidate material for using in reactors of various types. The main drawback of UZr(CN) is insufficient amount of data regarding its performance and behavior under irradiation, especially at high burn-ups. To address this problem, preparations are currently underway to perform a reactor experiment with the goal to study the properties of the CNF after reaching ≈ 7% burn-up. The parameters of the reactor experiment are as follows: cladding temperature not exceeding 800 K, power density not exceeding 750 W/cm 3 . For the purposes of reactor testing of the CNF pellets at high burn-up, an experimental capsule installed into the irradiating device has been developed. To verify the choice of designs of both the experimental capsule and the irradiating device thermophysical calculations were made and a programme of pre-irradiation experiments was completed. This paper elaborates on the results of the calculations demonstrating that the reactor tests fit the set goals and objectives.