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The Development of CVR Coatings for PBR Fuels

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 February 2011

Robert. E. Barletta ,
P. E. Vanier ,
M. B. Dowell  and
J. A. Lennartz
Robert. E. Barletta
Affiliation:
Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973
P. E. Vanier
Affiliation:
Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973
M. B. Dowell
Affiliation:
Advanced Ceramics Corporation, P.O. Box 94924, Cleveland OH 44010
J. A. Lennartz
Affiliation:
Advanced Ceramics Corporation, P.O. Box 94924, Cleveland OH 44010
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Abstract

Particle bed reactors (PBRs) are being developed for both space power and propulsion applications. These reactors operate with exhaust gas temperatures in the range of 2500 to 3000 K and fuel temperatures which may be hundreds of degrees higher. One fuel design for these reactors consists of uranium carbide encapsulated in either carbon or graphite. This fuel kernel must be protected from the coolant gas, usually H2, both to prevent attack of the kernel and to limit fission product release. Refractory carbide coatings have been proposed for this purpose. The typical coating process used for this is a chemical vapor deposition. Testing of other components have indicated the superiority of refractory carbide coatings applied using a chemical vapor reaction (CVR) process, however technology to apply these coatings to large numbers of fuel particles with diameters on the order of 500 gim were not readily available.

A process to deposit these CVR coatings on surrogate fuel consisting of graphite particles is described. Several types of coatings have been applied to the graphite substrate. These include NbC in various thicknesses and a bilayer coating consisting of NbC and TaC with a intermediate layer of pyrolytic graphite. These coated particles have been characterized prior to test and the results of this characterization will be presented.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 327: Symposium N – Covalent Ceramics II: Non-Oxides , 1993 , 133
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1994

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References

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