Development of FA with High-Density Fuel for Foreign Research Nuclear Reactors of Russian Design

• Published in: Atomic energy (New York, N.Y.) Vol. 129; no. 4; pp. 234 - 236
• Main Authors: Cherepnin, Yu. S., Pulinets, A. A., Kravtsova, O. A., Simonidi, A. R., Chizhova, E. S., Larionov, I. A., Logvenchev, S. I.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01-02-2021; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Assemblies; Composition; Density; Design; Design and construction; Energy development; Energy industry; Enriched fuel reactors; Hadrons; Heavy Ions; Molybdenum; Nuclear Chemistry; Nuclear Energy; Nuclear engineering; Nuclear facilities; Nuclear fuel elements; Nuclear fuels; Nuclear Physics; Nuclear power plants; Nuclear reactors; Nuclear safety; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Plutonium; R&D; Reactors; Research & development; Scale models; Uranium; Uranium dioxide; Uranium silicide; Czech Republic
• ISSN: 1063-4258; 1573-8205
• DOI: 10.1007/s10512-021-00740-9

The results of development work on and safety validation of high-density, low-enriched fuel for research nuclear reactors of Russian design are presented. Attention is focused mainly on the development of fuel assemblies with fuel based on UO
2
+ Al, U
3
Si
2
+ Al, and U9%Mo + Al for the LVR-15 research reactor (Czech Republic). A design-basis validation is given for IRT-4M fuel assemblies with fuel composition based on UO
2
+ Al and U
3
Si
2
+ Al, IRT-3M fuel assemblies with a fuel composition based on U9%Mo + Al, and IRT-P fuel assemblies with a fuel composition based on U
3
Si
2
+ Al and UO
2
+ Al. In substantiation of the operability and confirmation of the hydraulic characteristics of the IRT-P fuel assembly, which is equipped with 21 fuel rods, manufactured at NZKhK, there are plans to manufacture and conduct hydraulic testing of a full-scale model.