INTRODUCTION

TO NUCLEAR
FUELS
BASICS AND WORLD RESERVES
BY:MUKUL BHANDARI

INTRODUCTION
Nuclear fuel is a material that can be 'burned' by nuclear
fission or fusion to derive nuclear energy.
Nuclear fuel can refer to the fuel itself, or to physical
objects (for example bundles composed of fuel rods)
composed of the fuel material, mixed with structural,
neutron moderating, or neutron reflecting materials.
Most nuclear fuels contain heavy fissile elements that are
capable of nuclear fission.
When these fuels are struck by neutrons, they are in turn
capable of emitting neutrons when they break apart. This
makes possible a self-sustaining chain reaction that
releases energy with a controlled rate in a nuclear reactor
or with a very rapid uncontrolled rate in a nuclear
weapon.

NUCLEAR FISSION
Nuclear fission is either a nuclear reaction or a radioactive
decay process in which the nucleus of an atom splits into
smaller parts (lighter nuclei), often producing free neutrons
and photons (in the form of gamma rays), and releasing a
very large amount of energy, even by the energetic standards
of radioactive decay.

NUCLEAR FUSION
Nuclear fusion is a nuclear reaction in which two or more atomic
nuclei join together, or "fuse", to form a single heavier nucleus.
During this process, matter is not conserved because some of the
mass of the fusing nuclei is converted to energy which is
released.

COMMON RAW MATERIAL

FOR NUCLEAR FUELS
URANIUM
PLUTONIUM

NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE

The nuclear fuel cycle is an industrial process involving
various activities to produce electricity from uranium in
nuclear power reactors.
The cycle starts with the mining of uranium and ends
with the disposal of nuclear waste.
The raw material for todays nuclear fuel is uranium..

Contd.
The nuclear fuel cycle includes the front end, i.e.
preparation of the fuel.
The service period Is that in which fuel is used during
reactor operation to generate electricity.
The back end, i.e. the safe management of spent
nuclear fuel including reprocessing and reuse and
disposal.
If spent fuel is not reprocessed, the fuel cycle is referred
to as an open or once-through fuel cycle,if spent fuel is
reprocessed, and partly reused, it is referred to as a
closed nuclear fuel cycle.

Nuclear fuel cycle

EXPLORATION
A deposit of uranium, such as uraninite, discovered by
geophysical techniques, is evaluated and sampled to
determine the amounts of uranium materials that are
extractable at specified costs from the deposit.
Uranium reserves are the amounts of ore that are
estimated to be recoverable at stated costs. Uranium in
nature consists primarily of two isotopes, U-238 and U235.

MINING
There are three ways to mine uranium:
Open pit mines, underground mines and in situ leaching
where the uranium is leached directly from the ore.
IN SITU LEACHING :uranium is leached from the inplace ore through an array of regularly spaced wells and
is then recovered from the leach solution at a surface
plant.

MILLING
Milling is generally carried out close to a uranium mine.
The mined uranium ore is crushed and chemically treated
to separate the uranium.
The result is yellow cake, a yellow powder of uranium
oxide (U3O8). In yellow cake the Uranium concentration
is raised to more than 80%.
After milling, the yellow cake concentrate is shipped to a
conversion facility.

URANIUM CONVERSION
Natural uranium consists primarily of two isotopes,
99.3% is U-238 and 0.7% is U-235.fission process by
which heat energy is released in a nuclear reactor, takes
place mainly in U-235. Most nuclear power plants require
fuel with U-235 enriched to a level of 35%.
To increase the concentration of U-235, uranium must be
enriched. Since enrichment happens in gaseous form,
yellow cake is converted to uranium hexafluoride gas
(UF6) at a conversion facility.
UF6 gas is filled into large cylinders where it solidifies.
The cylinders are loaded into strong metal containers and
shipped to an enrichment plant.

yellow cake is converted into gas for enrichment.

ENRICHMENT
Uranium is enriched in U-235 by introducing the gas in
fast-spinning cylinders(centrifuges),where heavier
isotopes are pushed out to the cylinder walls.
Uranium can also be enriched using older technology by
pumping UF6 gas through porous membranes that allow
U-235 to pass through more easily than heavier isotopes,
such as U-238.

FUEL FABRICATION
Enriched uranium (UF6) cannot be directly used in
reactors, as it does not withstand high temperatures or
pressures. It is therefore converted into uranium oxide
(UO2).
Fuel pellets are formed by pressing UO2, which is
sintered (baked) at temperatures of over 1400C to
achieve high density and stability.
The pellets are cylindrical and are typically 815 mm in
diameter and 1015 mm long.
They are packed in long metal tubes to form fuel rods,
which are grouped in fuel assemblies for introduction
into a reactor.

FUEL PELLETS

ELECTRICITY GENERATION
Once the fuel is loaded inside a nuclear reactor,
controlled fission can occur.
Fission means that the U-235 atoms are split. The
splitting releases heat energy that is used to heat water
and produce high pressure steam.
The steam turns a turbine connected to a generator,which
generates electricity.
The fuel is used in the reactor for 36 years.
About once a year, 25% to 30% of the fuel is unloaded
and replaced with fresh fuel.

SPENT FUEL STORAGE

The spent fuel assemblies removed from the reactor are
very hot and radioactive. Therefore the spent fuel is
stored under water, which provides both cooling and
radiation shielding.
After a few years, spent fuel can be transferred to an
interim storage facility. This facility can involve either
wet storage, where spent fuel is kept in water pools, or
dry storage ,where spent fuel is kept in casks.
Both the heat and radioactivity decrease over time. After
40 years in storage, the fuels radioactivity will be about
a thousand times lower than when it was removed from
the reactor.

Spent fuel storage

REPROCESSING
The spent fuel contains uranium (96%), plutonium (1%)
and high level waste products (3%).The uranium, with
less than 1% fissile U-235 and the plutonium can be
reused. Some countries chemically reprocess usable
uranium and plutonium to separate them from unusable
waste.
Recovered uranium from reprocessing can be returned to
the conversion plant, converted to UF6 and subsequently
re-enriched.
Recovered plutonium, mixed with uranium, can be used
to fabricate mixed oxide fuel(MOX).

SPENT FUEL AND HIGH

LEVEL WASTE DISPOSAL
Spent nuclear fuel or high level waste can be safely
disposed of deep underground, in stable rock formations
such as granite, thus eliminating the health risk to people
and the environment.The first disposal facilities will be in
operation around 2020.
Waste will be packed in long-lasting containers and
buried deep in the geological formations chosen for their
favourable stability and geochemistry, including limited
water movement. These geological formations have
stability over hundreds of millions of years,far longer
than the waste is dangerous.

Waste disposal

CLASSIFICATION OF
FUELS
OXIDE FUEL
For fission reactors, the fuel (typically based on uranium) is
usually based on the metal oxide the oxides are used rather
than the metals themselves because the oxide melting point
is much higher than that of the metal and because it cannot
burn, being already in the oxidized state.
UOX(uranium dioxide):
MOX(Mixed xide fuel)

UOX(URANIUM DIOXIDE)
Uranium dioxide is a black semiconducting solid.
It can be made by reacting uranyl nitrate with a base
(ammonia) to form a solid (ammonium uranate).
It is heated (calcined) to form U3O8 that can then be
converted by heating in an argon / hydrogen mixture (700
C) to form UO2.
The UO2 is then mixed with an organic binder and
pressed into pellets, these pellets are then fired at a much
higher temperature (in H2/Ar) to sinter the solid.
The aim is to form a dense solid which has few pores.

MOX(MIXED OXIDE FUEL)

Mixed oxide, or MOX fuel, is a blend of plutonium and
natural or depleted uranium which behaves similarly
(though not identically) to the enriched uranium feed for
which most nuclear reactors were designed.
MOX fuel is an alternative to low enriched uranium
(LEU) fuel used in the light water reactors which
predominate nuclear power generation.
Some concern has been expressed that used MOX cores
will introduce new disposal challenges, though MOX is
itself a means to dispose of surplus plutonium by
transmutation.

METAL FUELS
Metal fuels have the advantage of a much higher heat
conductivity than oxide fuels but cannot survive equally
high temperatures.
Metal fuels have the potential for the highest fissile atom
density..
Metal fuels are normally alloyed, but some metal fuels
have been made with pure uranium metal.
Metal fuels have been used in water reactors and liquid
metal fast breeder reactors, such as EBR-II.
TWO TYPES:
TRIGA FUEL
ACTINIDE FUEL

TRIGA FUELS
TRIGA fuel is used in TRIGA (Training, Research,
Isotopes, General Atomics) reactors.
The TRIGA reactor uses uranium-zirconium-hydride
(UZrH) fuel, which has a prompt negative temperature
coefficient, meaning that as the temperature of the core
increases, the reactivity decreasesso it is highly
unlikely for a meltdown to occur.
Most cores that use this fuel are "high leakage" cores
where the excess leaked neutrons can be utilized for
research.

ACTINIDE FUEL
In a fast neutron reactor, the minor actinides produced by
neutron capture of uranium and plutonium can be used as
fuel.
Metal actinide fuel is typically an alloy of zirconium,
uranium, plutonium and the minor actinides.
It can be made inherently safe as thermal expansion of
the metal alloy will increase neutron leakage.

CERAMIC FUELS
Ceramic fuels other than oxides have the advantage of
high heat conductivities and melting points, but they are
more prone to swelling than oxide fuels and are not
understood as well.
THESE AR OF TWO TYPES
URANIUM CARBIDE
URANIUM NITRIDE

URANIUM CARBIDE
The high thermal conductivity and high melting point
makes uranium carbide an attractive fuel.
In addition, because of the absence of oxygen in this fuel
(during the course of irradiation, excess gas pressure can
build from the formation of O2 or other gases) as well as
the ability to complement a ceramic coating (a ceramicceramic interface has structural and chemical
advantages).
uranium carbide could be the ideal fuel candidate for
certain Generation IV reactors such as the gas-cooled fast
reactor.

URANUIM NITRIDE
This is often the fuel of choice for reactor designs that
NASA produces, one advantage is that UN has a better
thermal conductivity than UO2.
Uranium nitride has a very high melting point. This fuel
has the disadvantage that unless 15N was used (in place
of the more common 14N) that a large amount of 14C
would be generated from the nitrogen by the (n,p)
reaction.
As the nitrogen required for such a fuel would be so
expensive it is likely that the fuel would have to be
reprocessed by a pyro method to enable to the 15N to be
recovered. It is likely that if the fuel was processed and
dissolved in nitric acid that the nitrogen enriched with
15N would be diluted with the common 14N.

LIQUID FUELS
Liquid fuels are liquids containing dissolved nuclear fuel.
Liquid-fueled reactors generally have large negative
feedback mechanisms and therefore are particularly
stable designs; however the liquid fuel form also has the
disadvantage of being easily dispersible in the event of
an accident, such as a leak in the primary system.
MOLTEN SALTS
AQUEOUS SOLUTIONS OF URANYL SALTS

COMMON PHYSICAL
FORMS OF NUCLEAR FUEL
Uranium dioxide (UO2) powder is compacted to
cylindrical pellets and sintered at high temperatures to
produce ceramic nuclear fuel pellets with a high density
and well defined physical properties and chemical
composition.
A grinding process is used to achieve a uniform
cylindrical geometry with narrow tolerances. Such fuel
pellets are then stacked and filled into the metallic tubes.
The metal used for the tubes depends on the design of
the reactor. Stainless steel was used in the past, but
most reactors now use a zirconium alloy which, in
addition to being highly corrosion-resistant, has low
neutron absorption.

 The tubes containing the fuel pellets are sealed: these

tubes are called fuel rods. The finished fuel rods are
grouped into fuel assemblies that are used to build up
the core of a power reactor.
Cladding is the outer layer of the fuel rods, standing
between the coolant and the nuclear fuel. It is made of a
corrosion-resistant material with low absorption cross
section for thermal neutrons, usually Zircaloy or steel in
modern constructions, or magnesium with small amount
of aluminium and other metals for the now-obsolete
Magnox reactors.
Cladding prevents radioactive fission fragments from
escaping the fuel into the coolant and contaminating it.

PWR FUEL
Pressurized water reactor (PWR) fuel consists of
cylindrical rods put into bundles.
A uranium oxide ceramic is formed into pellets and
inserted into Zircaloy tubes that are bundled together.
The Zircaloy tubes are about 1 cm in diameter, and the
fuel cladding gap is filled with helium gas to improve the
conduction of heat from the fuel to the cladding.
There are about 179-264 fuel rods per fuel bundle and
about 121 to 193 fuel bundles are loaded into a reactor
core. Generally, the fuel bundles consist of fuel rods
bundled 1414 to 1717. PWR fuel bundles are about 4
meters long.

PWR FUEL
In PWR fuel bundles, control rods are inserted
through the top directly into the fuel bundle. The
fuel bundles usually are enriched several percent
in 235U.
The uranium oxide is dried before inserting into
the tubes to try to eliminate moisture in the
ceramic fuel that can lead to corrosion and
hydrogen embrittlement.
The Zircaloy tubes are pressurized with helium to
try to minimize pellet-cladding interaction which
can lead to fuel rod failure over long periods.

BWR FUEL
In boiling water reactors (BWR), the fuel is similar to
PWR fuel except that the bundles are "canned that is,
there is a thin tube surrounding each bundle.
This is primarily done to prevent local density variations
from affecting neutronics and thermal hydraulics of the
reactor core.
In modern BWR fuel bundles, there are either 91, 92, or
96 fuel rods per assembly depending on the
manufacturer. A range between 368 assemblies for the
smallest and 800 assemblies for the largest U.S. BWR
forms the reactor core. Each BWR fuel rod is back filled
with helium to a pressure of about three atmospheres
(300 kPa).

CANDU FUEL(CANADA
Deuterium Uranium)
CANDU fuel bundles are about a half meter long
and 10 cm in diameter. They consist of sintered
(UO2) pellets in zirconium alloy tubes, welded to
zirconium alloy end plates.
Each bundle is roughly 20 kg, and a typical core
loading is on the order of 4500-6500 bundles,
depending on the design. Modern types typically
have 37 identical fuel pins radially arranged about
the long axis of the bundle, but in the past several
different configurations and numbers of pins have
been used.

URANIUM RESERVES
Uranium reserves are reserves of recoverable uranium,
regardless of isotope, based on a set market price.
The reserves figures consists of reasonably assured
resources (RAR) plus inferred resources recoverable at a
cost range of below 130 USD/kg .
The amount of ultimately recoverable uranium depends
strongly on what one would be willing to pay for it.

WORLD RESERVES
country

Tonnesu

Worlds
percentage

AUSTRALIA

1,673,000

31%

KAZAKHSTAN

651,000

12%

CANADA

485,000

9%

RUSSIA

480,000

9%

SOUTH
AFRICA

295,000

5%

NAMIBIA

284,000

5%

BRAZIL

279,000

5%

WORLD RESERVES
COUNTRY

TONNES U

Worlds
percentage

NIGER

272,000

5%

USA

207,000

4%

CHINA

171,000

3%

JORDAN

112,000

2%

UZBEKISTAN

111,000

2%

UKRAINE

105,000

2%

INDIA

80,000

1.5%

MONGOLIA

49,000

1%

OTHERS

150,000

3%

WORLD TOTAL

5,404,000