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DOE Pulse
  • Number 301  |
  • December 7, 2009

Less 'waste-ful' nuclear fuel

Each fuel particle contains a kernel of enriched uranium surrounded by carbon and carbide layers that act as containment boundaries for the radioactive material.

Each fuel particle contains
a kernel of enriched
uranium surrounded by
 carbon and carbide layers
that act as containment
boundaries for the
radioactive material.

Researchers at DOE's Idaho National Laboratory have developed a new type of nuclear fuel that leaves less waste and could help industries burn fewer carbon-emitting fossil fuels. The advanced nuclear fuel would be used in high-temperature gas reactors such as the Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP), which could provide the electricity, heat and hydrogen many industries currently get from fossil fuels. The advanced fuel has now set a particle fuel record by consuming approximately 19 percent of its low-enriched uranium. That's more than double the previous record set by 80s-era German scientists, and more than three times that achieved by current commercial light water reactor fuel. Such high "burnup" can reduce the amount of unused fuel coming out of next-generation reactors. Also, each fuel pellet has several containment coatings, which have experienced no material failures since entering the extreme neutron irradiation test environment of the Advanced Test Reactor in December 2006.

[Teri Ehresman, 208.526.7785,
teri.ehresman@inl.gov]