Back to results
US 9,620,248 B2Granted
Dispersion ceramic micro-encapsulated (DCM) nuclear fuel and related methods
AssigneeUltra Safe Nuclear Corporation
InventorFrancesco Venneri
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The invention relates to the use of Dispersion Ceramic Micro-Encapsulated (DCM) nuclear fuel as a meltdown-proof, accident-tolerant fuel to replace uranium dioxide fuel in existing light water reactors (LWRs). The safety qualities of the DCM fuel are obtained by the combination of three strong barriers to fission product release (ceramic coatings around the fuel kernels), highly dense inert ceramic matrix around the coated fuel particles and metallic or ceramic cladding around the fuel pellets.
Claims16
A nuclear fuel comprising:
- a dispersion-ceramic micro-encapsulated fuel comprising a plurality of tristructural-isotropic (TRISO) fuel particles embedded in a silicon carbide matrix;
- wherein the plurality of TRISO fuel particles each include one or more layers of isotropic materials surrounding a fuel kernel and the fuel kernel is surrounded by a porous carbon buffer layer, an inner pyrolytic carbon layer, a ceramic layer, and an outer pyrolytic carbon layer;
- wherein the ceramic layer is formed of a silicon carbide layer supplemented with a zirconium carbide;
- and
- wherein the plurality of TRISO fuel particles includes two or more different sizes of TRISO fuel particles, including a first TRISO fuel particle having a first fuel kernel with a first kernel radius of no more than 375 micrometers and a first packing fraction of no more than 45% and a second TRISO fuel particle having a second fuel kernel with a second kernel radius of no more than 200 micrometers and a second packing fraction of no more than 3%.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.