New Research Effort Could Boost Nuclear Fuel Performance
Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) have begun a series of experiments that could result in more energy for the grid by increasing nuclear fuel efficiency. The tests are made possible by the special delivery of 11 “high burnup” rods that were irradiated for research purposes.
The rods will be punctured, cut, mechanically stressed and closely examined — all part of testing to learn how the metal alloys fared inside the extreme environment of a nuclear reactor for six years, where temperatures can soar to hundreds of degrees Celsius.
The larger aim: to understand how advanced fuels developed by Global Nuclear Fuel react to “higher burnup” conditions. Those conditions partly entail keeping the fuels inside a reactor for longer than is typical, with the goal of extracting more energy out of the fuel than is done today.
The series of experiments underway at PNNL will reveal important information about how the research rods reacted to the conditions, and may even inform how future fuels are designed.
High burnup fuels stand to boost the performance of the country’s nuclear power fleet by making more efficient use of existing fuel materials, making reactors more resistant to nuclear incidents and perhaps even lowering the cost of electricity.
According to Pacific Northwest National Laboratory