Nuclear Fuel Engineering

K. Idemitsu
• Introduction of nuclear fuels

• Performance of current nuclear fuels

• Heat generation rate and

temperature distribution in a fuel

• Restructuring of fuel during irradiation

• Behavior of fission products in irradiated fuels

and Small Test

 • Introduction of nuclear fuels
Ca. 30 % of electricity is generated by nuclear energy in Japan.
Advantages of nuclear energy;
High energy density, low cost, no carbon dioxide release, etc.
Disadvantage;Radioactivity as by-product
Coal
Oil
Liq.Natur.Gas
Solar Heat
Ocean Temp. Diff.
Logshore current
Wavelet
Solar cell
Wind Power
Geothermal By fuel burning
Nuclear Power By others(construction etc.)
Hydro Power

Carbon release per unit electricity

g-C/kWh
• Introduction of nuclear fuels
Current nuclear fuel is made of UO2
or MOX(Mixed Oxide) :(U,Pu)O2

Nuclear Fuel Pellets

FUGEN

PWR BWR

JOYO MOMJU
 • Introduction of nuclear fuels
Upper plug

Plenum spring
Plenum is the spece for fission gas released from fuel
pellets in the rod.

Fuel pellet
φ 10mm x h 10mm Cladding
BWR
Zircaloy
Zr based alloy
φ 8mm x h 12mm BWR Zry-2 (Zr-1.5 Sn - 0.12 Fe - 0.05 Ni - 0.1 Cr)
PWR PWR Zry-4 (Zr-1.5 Sn - 0.15 Fe - 0.00 Ni - 0.1 Cr)

Fuel rod Lower plug

• Introduction of nuclear fuels
Fuel Assembly

Fuel pellet Spacer grid

4m

Fuel rod
 • Introduction of nuclear fuels

Fuel Assembly

BWR
6 x 6, 7 x 7, 8 x 8

PWR
BWR
14 x 14, 15 x 15, 17 x 17
Reactor core -4m x h 4m
 • Introduction of nuclear fuels
Disadvantage;Radioactivity as by-product
For the safety there are 5 containers in a reactor.

Pressure vessel
3rd container

Container vessel
4th container
Building
5th container

Fuel pellet Fuel rod

1st container 2nd container
• Performance of current nuclear fuels in Japan
Low leakage of RNs from fuel rods into coolant by failure

(BWR) (PWR)
20000 4000 50
PWR
3000 40 BWR
15000
30
10000 2000
20
5000 1000 10 PWR
BWR
0 0 0
1970 1980 1990 2000 1970 1980 1990 2000
No. of Bundles in core No. of Failures
• Performance of current nuclear fuels in USA

10
Failure cause
･Crud induced locallized corrosion
8
･Debris fretting
･Fablication failure
6 ･Pellet cladding interaction
･Crudding/corrosion
4

0
1980 1985 1990 1995
• Performance of current nuclear fuels in Japan
Heat generation
Burn up ; how much energy produced per unit fuel
odometer of fuel
GWd/tU (30 to 50 GWd/tU in Japan)
%FIMA(Fission per initial metal atom)

Heat rate ; how much power produced per unit fuel

speedmeter of fuel
GW/m (30 kW/m in Japan)
Integral of thermal conductivity
Tcent K : thermal conductivity of fuel
K dT Tsurf : temperature of fuel surface
Tsurf
Tcent : temperature of fuel center
• Performance of current nuclear fuels in Japan
for example
Linear heat rate 30 kW/m
30kW/m x 4 m = 120 kW per fuel rod

120kW/rod x 63rods = 7.6MW per assembly

7.6MW/assembly x 400 assembly = 3 GWth per reactor

3 GWth x 0.33 =1 GWe

BWR 8 x 8 Fuel rod

Water rod
Burn up ; how much energy produced per unit fuel

%FIMA(Fission of initial metal atom)

When 1% of U fission, total energy will produce •••.
• 1t of U; 1,000,000 g/238 * 6.02 1023 = 2.53 1027
• fission ; 2.53 1025
• energy of fission; 200MeV = 3.2 10-11 J
• energy from 1t of U ; 2.53 1025 * 3.2 10-11 = 8.1 1014 J
= 8.1 1014 Ws /86400 s/d = 9.37 109 Wd
= 9.37 GWd

1 %FIMA = 9.37 GWd/tU

If you want to use GWd/t UO2 ,

you should use 270 instead of 238.
 • Heat generation rate and
temperature distribution in a fuel

Simple calculation of T distribution in a fuel rod

Assumption
• uniform heat generation per unit volume ; q (W/m3)
• temp. independent thermal conductivity;K (W/m/°C)
Heat generated in inner cylinder; πr2q
Heat flux through cylinder;
dr πr2q rq
r = (W/m2) = – K dT
2πr 2 dr
a a rq Tcent a2q Linear Heat rate
dr = K dT = = (W/m)
0 2 Tsurf 4 4π
• Heat generation rate and
temperature distribution in a fuel
a rq T(r)
dr = K dT = T (r) – Tsurf K
r 2 Tsurf

a2q r2q a2q r2

Linear heat rate r2
= – = 1– 2 = 1– 2
4 4 4 a 4π a

Parabolic distribution

Linear heat rate is determined

by center temperature
Tcent not by pellet diameter.

Tsurf Tcent
K dT = Linear Heat rate = Tcent – Tsurf K
Tsurf 4π
 Linear heat rate is determined
by center temperature
not by pellet diameter.

• How high the center temperature in a fuel pellet

K = 2 W/m/°C, Linear heat rate = 30 kW/m
Tcent
K dT = Linear Heat rate = Tcent – Tsurf K
Tsurf 4π

Tcent - Tsurf = 1200 °

Tcent = 1700 - 1800 °C

If linear heat rate = 50 kW/m,

Tcent = 2500 - 2600 °C
• Phase diagram of U-O system

Melting point of UO2 2840°C

Temperature (°C)
Why are fuel rods getting slim?
To keep 7.6MW per assembly
7.6MW/assembly ÷ 63 rod = 120kW/rod
120kW/rod ÷ 4 m = 30 kW/m
Linear heat rate 30 kW/m
BWR 6 x 6 BWR 7 x 7 BWR 8 x 8 Fuel rod

Water rod

Number of fuel rods 36 49 63

Linear heat rate (kW/m) 53 39 30
• Restructuring of fuel during irradiation

There is big temperature gradient in fuel pellet.

Central void
>50GWd/tU
Columnar grain
>1700°C

Equiaxed grain
>1400°C
Undisterbed region

Rim region
>70GWd/tU
 • Behavior of fission products in irradiated fuels
94 136
1.0
Fission gas yields (%)
235 239
Isotopes U Pu
83
Kr 0.40 0.30
84
0.1 Kr 0.85 0.50
85
Kr 0.15 0.13
86
Kr 1.40 0.80
0.01 Total Kr 2.8 1.7
131
Xe 3.2 3.8
132
Xe 4.7 5.3
0.001
134
Xe 6.6 7.5
136
Xe 5.9 6.6
0.0001 Total Xe 20.4 23.2
100
mass number
Fission yields
• Behavior of fission products in irradiated fuels
aMO2 ∆G f
M + O2 ⇔ MO2 K= = exp –
aMPO2 RT a
∆G f = RT ln PO2 + RT ln a M
MO2
∆GO2 = RT ln PO2 :Oxygen Potenial
Elemental

Oxide

Temperature (K)
Oxygen potential of fuel ∆GO2 Formation energy of oxides