Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T13:02:29.837Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Nuclear Fuels – Present and Future

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Get access

Abstract

The important developments in new nuclear fuels are reviewed and compared with the status of present light-water reactor fuels. The limitations of LWR fuels are reviewed with respect to important recent concerns, namely provision of outlet coolant temperatures high enough for use in H2 production, destruction of plutonium to eliminate proliferation concerns, and burning of the minor actinides to reduce the waste repository heat load and long-term radiation hazard. In addition to current oxide-based fuel-rod designs, the hydride fuel with liquid metal thermal bonding of the fuel-cladding gap is covered. Finally, two of the most promising Generation IV reactor concepts, the Very High Temperature Reactor(VHTR) and the Sodium Fast Reactor (SFR) , and the accompanying reprocessing technologies, aqueous-based UREX+1a for the VHTR and pyrometallurgical for the SFR, are summarized.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)