The SELENIUM fuel experiment - Progress Report after 2 cycles

Since 2008, SCK•CEN has supported the SELENIUM U(Mo) dispersion fuel development project in an attempt to find a way to reduce the interaction between U(Mo) fuel kernels and the Al matrix to a significantly low level to allow high burnups to be reached at high power levels. SELENIUM aims at evaluating the solution of coating the U(Mo) kernels to reduce or inhibit the interdiffusion of Al and U, which is the source of the interaction phase formation. Two coating types were included in the current experiment : Si and ZrN. A PVD coater for coating particles was designed, built and licenced for U(Mo) powder. Several batches of atomised low-enriched U(Mo) powder were coated and used for fuel plate fabrication. Two fuel plates containing 8gU/cc U(Mo) coated with respectively 600 nm Si and 1000 nm ZrN in a pure Al matrix, were introduced in the BR2 reactor in cycle 02/2012 in the E-FUTURE basket at the start of March 2012. The fuel plates have been irradiated for two cycles and the third and final cycle is ongoing at the time of this conference.