In sodium fast neutron spectrum nuclear reactors, metallic uranium-based alloys have often been chosen because of their high fissile density, high thermal conductivity, and several reactor kinetic safety benefits. In order to address increasingly high burnup / high performance demands, a number of innovative design are under investigation within the Department of Energy’s Advanced Fuels...
The transmutation of minor actinides in the future generation of fast-neutron nuclear reactors is an option to decrease the volume and the overall radiotoxicity of the nuclear fuel inventory. Within minor actinides, americium is the one having the highest radiotoxicity. Several scenarios are considered for introducing it back into the core of nuclear reactors, either homogenously distributed...
Idaho National Laboratory has a long and internationally recognized history of performing irradiation testing of advanced fast reactor fuels in the Experimental Breeder Reactor II (EBR-II) and the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR). Since EBR-II’s decommissioning in the early 1990’s, irradiation testing has been exclusively performed in ATR. The testing of fast reactor fuels in ATR is challenging...
Transient irradiation testing of fast reactor fuels has been a major emphasis of several historical programs supporting both oxide and metal fuels for sodium-cooled fast reactors. These programs have been executed at several test facilities around the world, though today, very few remaining facilities exist capable to perform such studies. The purpose of these programs is to understand and...
