The Effects of Uranium Content on the Manufacture and Properties of (U-Zr) Alloy Nuclear Fuel

铀含量对(U-Zr)合金核燃料制造及性能的影响

• 批准号: 1964147
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Manchester
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2017 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-1964147
• 关键词: Effects; Uranium; Content; Manufacture; Properties

Metallic (U,Zr) alloys have been used for many years as a fuel material for low-power, low-temperature research reactors. Recently, there has been growing interest in the possibility of utilising this material as a novel "accident tolerant" fuel for existing and new commercial power reactors. However, current levels of understanding of the performance of such alloys under the much higher levels of power and temperature found in commercial power reactors is low, and there is little published information that would allow an understanding of the link between material composition and manufacturing techniques to the microstructure of the alloy, and its mechanical and thermo-physical properties. The aim of the research project is to utilise the unique capabilities of the Nuclear Fuels Centre of Excellence at Manchester to explore the effects of alloy composition and manufacturing parameters on the microstructure and thermo-physical properties of the fuel material. Alloys comprising a range of U and Zr contents will be produced by arc melting, and the properties of the resulting alloys will be investigated, including: microstructure and homogeneity, mechanical properties, physical properties, and thermal behaviour. As well as producing a valuable new database, we will seek to develop relationships between composition, manufacturing, and salient properties that will be crucial for the design of potential new fuels. If resources permit, we plan to test the performance of promising alloys under ion beam irradiation using the Pelletron accelerators at DCF.

金属（U,Zr）合金作为低功率、低温研究堆的燃料材料已使用多年。最近，人们对利用这种材料作为一种新型的“耐事故”燃料用于现有和新的商业反应堆的可能性越来越感兴趣。然而，目前对这种合金在商业动力反应堆中更高的功率和温度下的性能的了解水平很低，并且很少有公开的信息可以理解材料成分和制造技术与合金微观结构之间的联系，以及它的机械和热物理性能。该研究项目的目的是利用曼彻斯特核燃料卓越中心的独特能力，探索合金成分和制造参数对燃料材料微观结构和热物理性能的影响。电弧熔炼将生产出含有一定U和Zr含量的合金，并对所得合金的性能进行研究，包括：微观结构和均匀性、机械性能、物理性能和热行为。除了建立一个有价值的新数据库外，我们还将寻求发展成分、制造和显著特性之间的关系，这对潜在的新燃料的设计至关重要。如果资源允许，我们计划在DCF使用Pelletron加速器测试有前途的合金在离子束照射下的性能。