ADVANCED FUEL TECHNOLOGIES OF THE FUTURE

摘要

The accident at Fukushima Daiichi in 2011highlighted the value of fuel margin in the case of asevere accident. Further, in the US, the existing fleet ofcommercial nuclear power plants faces economicpressure from low natural gas prices and the emergenceof utility scale renewable generation. These, as well asother, major trends in the power generation industryprovoke questions as to where innovations in the fueltechnology are useful for responding to the challengesfaced by the nuclear power generation industry.This paper systematically explores the broad array ofadvanced fuel concepts to assess the relative merits ofeach for delivering beneficial solutions to the nuclearplant operators when compared to the referencetechnology of UO_2 with zirconium-base alloys. Theadvanced technologies reviewed include UO_2 fuel withadditives (doped fuel, microcell fuel) and dense fuels(U_3Si_2, UN) combined with ATF Cr-coated M5 or withSiC claddings, as well as others that will be interesting tothe industry in the future.Several criteria serve as the guidepost for the assessment.These criteria correspond to the key considerations forimplementing any new technology including: economicaspects (utilization costs, manufacturing costs, potentialfor improved fuel management (e.g., longer cycle)),physical properties and their impact in normaloperations, DBA and BDBA (e.g., thermal conductivity,FGR, melting point, compatibility with the cladding andthe coolant).The results reveal some interesting insights on the relativebenefits of advanced technologies when compared toUO_2. This systematic review of the innovativetechnologies in today’s development pipeline provides akey reference for decision makers as they face thequestions of which technologies to implement and whenthese technologies will be available in large quantities.