Accident tolerant fuel cladding development: Promise, status, and challenges

Current status of materials development of nuclear fuel cladding tubes for light water reactors

Characterization of SiC–SiC composites for accident tolerant fuel cladding

Microstructure, corrosion resistance and oxidation behavior of Cr-coatings on Zircaloy-4 prepared by vacuum arc plasma deposition

Recent progress in the development of SiC composites for nuclear fusion applications

Fabrication and characterization of joined silicon carbide cylindrical components for nuclear applications

Abstract General Atomics is developing a new 100-MW(thermal) fast modular reactor (FMR) that provides safe, carbon-free electricity and is capable of incremental capacity additions. The modular design allows it to be factory built and assembled onsite to keep the capital cost low, while the use of dry cooling facilitates siting to complement renewables in nearly any location. The FMR uses high-assay low-enriched uranium-dioxide fuel encapsulated by recognized irradiation-resistant silicon carbide composite (SiGA®) cladding that is derisked in the current accident-tolerant fuel program. The FMR fuel assembly is a hexagonal fuel bundle of 120 fuel rods. The total length of the fuel assembly is less than 4 m, with an active fuel length of 1.8 m. The fuel assemblies are configured in an annular core that is located and supported by the reactor internals. The coolant material is helium at a normal operating pressure of 7 MPa. The core is surrounded by zirconium silicide (Zr3Si2) and graphite reflector blocks. The fuel, coolant, internals, and reflectors are contained within a reactor pressure vessel. The preliminary nuclear design and analysis established the arrangement of the active core and reflector blocks. The nuclear design analyses of the FMR defined the design parameters, such as fuel enrichments, excess reactivity, fueling scheme, fuel cycle, power distribution, and control rod worth. The preliminary conceptual design determined the three-batch fueling scheme with the allowable total power peaking factor of 1.5. The average discharge burnup is 100 GW days per ton of uranium.

O. Gutierrez

Papers

Characterization of SiC–SiC composites for accident tolerant fuel cladding

Fabrication and characterization of joined silicon carbide cylindrical components for nuclear applications

Preliminary Neutronics Design and Analysis of the Fast Modular Reactor