US 2012/0257707 A1 · Nuclear fuel and method of fabricating the same

Abstract

A nuclear fuel includes a volume of a nuclear fuel material defined by a surface, the nuclear fuel material including a plurality of grains, some of the plurality of grains having a characteristic length along at least one dimension that is smaller than or equal to a selected distance, wherein the selected distance is suitable for maintaining adequate diffusion of a fission product from a grain interior to a grain boundary in some of the grains, the nuclear fuel material including a boundary network configured to transport the fission product from at least one grain boundary of some of the grains to the surface of the volume of the nuclear fuel material.

Claims103

Dependent claims

A nuclear fuel, comprising:

a volume of a nuclear fuel material defined by a surface,
the nuclear fuel material including a plurality of grains,
some of the plurality of grains having a characteristic length along at least one dimension smaller than or equal to a selected distance, the selected distance suitable for maintaining adequate diffusion of a fission product from a grain interior to at least one grain boundary in some of the grains,
the nuclear fuel material including a boundary network configured to transport the fission product from at least one grain boundary of some of the grains to the surface of the volume of the nuclear fuel material.

1 more element

A method for fabricating a nuclear fuel, comprising:

providing a nuclear fuel material, the nuclear fuel material consolidated into a solid volume of nuclear fuel material having a surface, the consolidated nuclear fuel material including a plurality of grains;
and
performing one or more processes on the consolidated volume of nuclear fuel material in order to obtain a characteristic length along at least one dimension of some of the grains smaller than or equal to a selected distance and a boundary network configured to transport a fission product from at least one grain boundary of some of the grains to the surface of the volume of the nuclear fuel material, wherein the selected distance is suitable for maintaining adequate diffusion of a fission product from a grain interior to at least one grain boundary in some of the grains.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Nuclear fuel and method of fabricating the same

Life of this patent

Nuclear fuel and method of fabricating the same

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims103