Development of Nonfertile and Evolutionary Mixed-Oxide Nuclear Fuels for Use in Existing Water Reactors

摘要

Investigations of an advanced fuel form are currently under way. This new fuel form, referred to as evolutionary mixed oxide (EMOX), is a slight perturbation on standard mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel, and analyses show that it can be an effective plutonium management tool in exisitng light water reactors. The addition of a small fraction of calcia-stabilized zirconia to the uranium-plutonium oxide matrix allows for greater plutonium conversion while also providing a licensing path forward toward eventual implementation of high-plutonium-destruction fueld.s These fuels, referred to as nonfertile (NF) fuels, achieve their high destruction rates thorugh the absence of uranium, which breeds plutonium, in the fuel composition.