Particle fuel coating technology from Oak Ridge National Laboratory could play a big role in deployment one day of high-temperature gas-cooled reactors. The reactors and the fuel they consume would minimize the production of long-lived radioactive waste and would increase the burn rate. One of the hurdles involves developing a fuel coating process that takes the technology of the 1970s forward four decades. "Our job is to make the best particle fuel ever made,' said Rick Lowden, principal investigator and a researcher in ORNL's Metals and Ceramics Division. Researchers also must increase the energy density to meet the needs of next-generation gas-cooled reactors, which will utilize fast neutrons, helium cooling and a closed fuel cycle. This type of reactor is widely regarded to be inherently safer than conventional reactors, partly because the fuel consists of a kernel of fissile/fertile materials surrounded by layers of carbon and silicon carbide ceramic for protection and containment. Coated particle fuel has additional benefits such as its abilities to operate at high temperatures, to achieve high burn-up and to survive accident conditions.
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