Fully ceramic microencapsulated fuels containing tristructural-isotropic particles with a coating layer having higher shrinkage than matrix

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for preparing a fully ceramic capsulated nuclear fuel material containing three-layer-structured isotropic nuclear fuel particles coated with a ceramic having a composition which has a higher shrinkage than a matrix in order to prevent cracking of ceramic nuclear fuel, wherein the three-layer-structured nuclear fuel particles before coating is included in the range of between 5 and 40 fractions by volume based on after sintering. More specifically, the present invention provides a composition for preparing a fully ceramic capsulated nuclear fuel containing three-layer-structured isotropic particles coated with the substance which includes, as a main ingredient, a silicon carbine derived from a precursor of the silicon carbide wherein a condition of ΔLc>ΔLm at normal pressure sintering is created, where the sintering shrinkage of the coating layer of the three-layer-structured isotropic nuclear fuel particles is ΔLc and the sintering shrinkage of the silicon carbide matrix is ΔLm; material produced therefrom; and a method for manufacturing the material. The residual porosity of the fully ceramic capsulated nuclear fuel material is 4% or less.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.