Engineering Commons^™

Fabrication Of Stoichiometric U3Si2 Fuel Pellets, Adrian R. Wagner, Jason M. Harp, Kip E. Archibald, Seth C. Ashby, Jennifer K. Watkins, Kevin R. Tolman

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Uranium silicide, U₃Si₂, is an accident tolerant fuel type which is gaining momentum as a replacement fuel for uranium dioxide (UO₂). Idaho National Laboratories has been fabricating phase pure U₃Si₂ fuel pellets for use in various irradiation and material characterization experiments. Stoichiometric U₃Si₂ fuel pellets were fabricated using a powder metallurgy and arcmelting technique. The use of the stoichiometric ratio to alloy uranium and silicon, and sintering in a vacuum environment allowed for the fabrication of high density (>94% theoretical density), phase pure pellets, greater than 94% …