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Actinide alloys; Americium; Metal-base fuel; Metal castings; Metallurgical furnaces; Nuclear fuel rods
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Full-Text Articles in Nuclear Engineering
Design And Analysis Of A Process For Melt Casting Metallic Fuel Pins Incorporating Volatile Actinides, Yitung Chen, Darrell Pepper, Randy Clarksean
Design And Analysis Of A Process For Melt Casting Metallic Fuel Pins Incorporating Volatile Actinides, Yitung Chen, Darrell Pepper, Randy Clarksean
Fuels Campaign (TRP)
The Transmutation Research Program requires the incorporation of non-fertile actinides into the fuel matrix for the transmuter blanket. One of three currently proposed candidate matrices for the transmuter blanket is a metallic alloy fuel matrix. Metallic fuels are an outstanding candidate for a transmutation fuel due to excellent irradiation performance and ease of fabrication. However, including a volatile constituent during fabrication of these fuel pins presents a challenge. High vapor pressure actinides, particularly americium, are susceptible to rapid vaporization and transport using traditional metal fuel casting processes. As a result, only a fraction of the desired charge is incorporated into …