Argonne National Laboratory
RERTR
Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors
Nuclear Science and Engineering Division at Argonne
U.S. Department of Energy

2007 International RERTR Meeting

Abstracts and Available Papers Presented at the Meeting

Current Status of U3Si2 Fuel Elements Fabrication in Brazil

M. Durazzo, E.F. Urano de Carvalho, A.M. Saliba-Silva, J.A.B Souza
Centro do Combustível Nuclear Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas e Nucleares, IPEN - CNEN/SP
Av. Prof. Lineu Prestes, 2242 - Cidade Universitária - CEP 05508-000, São Paulo - SP - Brasil

and

H.G. Riella
Departamento de Engenharia Química Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Santa Catarina - SC - Brasil

ABSTRACT

IPEN has been working for increasing radioisotope production in order to supply the expanding demand for radiopharmaceutical medicines requested by the Brazilian welfare. To reach this objective, the IEA-R1 research reactor power capacity was recently increased from 2 MW to 4 MW. Since 1988 IPEN has been manufacturing its own fuel element, initially based on U3O8-Al dispersion fuel plates with 2.3 gU/cm3. To support the reactor power increase, higher uranium density in the fuel plate meat had to be achieved for better irradiation flux and also to minimize the irradiated fuel elements to be stored. Uranium silicide was the chosen option and the fuel fabrication development started with the support of the IAEA BRA/4/047 Technical Cooperation Project. This paper describes the results of this program and the current status of silicide fuel fabrication and its qualification.

PDF documentFull paper in PDF format

 

IMPORTANT NOTE:
Download the latest and free version of Adobe's Reader to view documents in PDF format. If you have questions about or problems with downloading, installing or using Adobe's Reader, please visit the Adobe website.
Get Adobe Reader for free

Problems viewing/ printing PDF files
Should you experience problems with viewing/printing the PDF files:
 Link will open in new browser window PDF Help Notes (link opens in new browser window)


Contact:
Dr. Jordi Roglans-Ribas
Technical Director, RERTR Department
Nuclear Engineering Division – 362
Argonne National Laboratory
9700 South Cass Avenue
Argonne, IL 60439
 
Fax:  +1 630-252-5161

2016 RERTR Meeting

The 2016 International RERTR Meeting (RERTR-2016) will take place in Belgium. Stay tuned for further details.

2015 RERTR Meeting

The 2015 International RERTR Meeting (RERTR-2015) took place in Seoul, Korea on Oct. 11-14, 2015.
For more information visit RERTR-2015.

Links


ARGONNE NATIONAL LABORATORY, Nuclear Engineering Division, RERTR Department
9700 South Cass Ave., Argonne, IL 60439-4814
A U.S. Department of Energy laboratory managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC
 

Last modified on July 29, 2008 16:02 +0200