Consolidation of coated fuel particles with pyrolytic carbon or silicon carbide

Fuel particles for the High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (HTGR) contain layers of pyrolytic carbon and silicon carbide, which act as a miniature pressure vessel and form the primary fission product barrier. Of the many fission products formed during irradiation, the noble metals are of particular interest because they interact significantly with the SiC layer and their concentrations are somewhat higher in the low-enriched uranium fuels currently under consideration. To study fission product-SiC interactions, particles of UO2 or UC2 are doped with fission product elements before coating and are then held in a thermal gradient up to several thousand hours. Examination of the SiC coatings by TEM-AEM after annealing shows that silver behaves differently from the palladium group.

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Thermal conductivity mapping of pyrolytic carbon and silicon carbide coatings on simulated fuel particles by time-domain thermoreflectance

Journal of Nuclear Materials ◽

10.1016/j.jnucmat.2008.04.007 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 378 (1) ◽

pp. 35-39 ◽

Cited By ~ 25

Author(s):

E. López-Honorato ◽

C. Chiritescu ◽

P. Xiao ◽

David G. Cahill ◽

G. Marsh ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Thermal Conductivity ◽

Silicon Carbide ◽

Time Domain ◽

Pyrolytic Carbon ◽

Simulated Fuel ◽

Carbide Coatings ◽

Fuel Particles

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Irradiation behavior of pyrolytic silicon carbide

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100074288 ◽

1983 ◽

Vol 41 ◽

pp. 72-73

Author(s):

R. J. Lauf

Keyword(s):

Silicon Carbide ◽

Fission Products ◽

Thermodynamics And Kinetics ◽

Neutron Fluences ◽

Fuel Particles ◽

Sic Coatings ◽

Irradiation Behavior ◽

Kinetics Of ◽

Htgr Fuel

Fuel particles for the High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (HTGR) contain a layer of pyrolytic silicon carbide to act as a miniature pressure vessel and primary fission product barrier. Optimization of the SiC with respect to fuel performance involves four areas of study: (a) characterization of as-deposited SiC coatings; (b) thermodynamics and kinetics of chemical reactions between SiC and fission products; (c) irradiation behavior of SiC in the absence of fission products; and (d) combined effects of irradiation and fission products. This paper reports the behavior of SiC deposited on inert microspheres and irradiated to fast neutron fluences typical of HTGR fuel at end-of-life.

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The Development of Spherical Pyrolytic-Carbon-Coated UC2 and UThC2 Fuel Particles

Nuclear Science and Engineering ◽

10.13182/nse64-a28935 ◽

1964 ◽

Vol 20 (2) ◽

pp. 227-234 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

H. G. Sowman ◽

R. L. Surver ◽

J. R. Johnson

Keyword(s):

Pyrolytic Carbon ◽

Carbon Coated ◽

Fuel Particles

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Quick and Practical Cleaning Process for Silicon Carbide Epitaxial Reactor

Materials Science Forum ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/msf.924.96 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 924 ◽

pp. 96-99

Author(s):

Kohei Shioda ◽

Keisuke Kurashima ◽

Hitoshi Habuka ◽

Hideki Ito ◽

Shinichi Mitani ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Silicon Carbide ◽

Carbon Film ◽

Film Surface ◽

Chemical Vapor ◽

Pyrolytic Carbon ◽

Film Deposition ◽

Carbon Surface ◽

Cleaning Process ◽

Silicon Carbide Film ◽

Carbon Coated

In order to develop a quick and practical cleaning process for the silicon carbide chemical vapor deposition reactor, the pyrolytic carbon-coated susceptor was used. The 30-μm-thick silicon carbide film was formed on the susceptor; the film was cleaning by chlorine trifluoride gas at 460 °C for 15 min. The remained fluorine was removed by the annealing at 900 °C in ambient hydrogen. The pyrolytic carbon surface did not suffer from any damage, because the pyrolytic carbon film surface morphology after the cleaning process was the same as that before the silicon carbide film deposition.

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