TY - JOUR
T1 - Manufacturing of zirconia microspheres doped with erbia, yttria and ceria by internal gelation process as a part of a cermet fuel
AU - Idemitsu, K.
AU - Arima, T.
AU - Inagaki, Y.
AU - Torikai, S.
AU - Pouchon, M. A.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute. The authors indebted to Dr M. Watanabe, the Center of Advanced Instrumental Analysis, Kyushu University for the measurement of SEM and XRD analysis. The author thanks Dr C. Degueldre, PSI, for useful exchange of information, Mr G. Ledergerber, PSI for the very constructive discussions.
PY - 2003/6/1
Y1 - 2003/6/1
N2 - Zirconium oxide is an inert matrix candidate for the transmutation of plutonium in light water reactor (LWR). The thermal conductivity of cubic zirconia is however lower than the conductivities of UO2 and MOX. Special designs are therefore necessary to avoid high peaking temperatures close to the melting point in the zirconia pellet. Cermet would be a favorable design to improve the thermal conductivity. The suggested cermet fuel consists of fine plutonium doped stabilized zirconia particles dispersed in a metallic inert matrix. Manufacturing tests on cubic zirconia microspheres were carried out by using the internal gelation process developed at the Paul Scherrer Institute. Gelation was conducted successfully and the sintered spheres had a homogeneous single cubic structure. The lattice parameter of the cubic zirconia was estimated as a function of the Er, Y and Ce atomic fraction using a simplified semi-quantitative formula. On the experimental side, it is necessary to further investigate the ideal fabrication conditions, because some gel spheres were opaque and fragile and most of the sintered spheres were cracked, nicked and porous.
AB - Zirconium oxide is an inert matrix candidate for the transmutation of plutonium in light water reactor (LWR). The thermal conductivity of cubic zirconia is however lower than the conductivities of UO2 and MOX. Special designs are therefore necessary to avoid high peaking temperatures close to the melting point in the zirconia pellet. Cermet would be a favorable design to improve the thermal conductivity. The suggested cermet fuel consists of fine plutonium doped stabilized zirconia particles dispersed in a metallic inert matrix. Manufacturing tests on cubic zirconia microspheres were carried out by using the internal gelation process developed at the Paul Scherrer Institute. Gelation was conducted successfully and the sintered spheres had a homogeneous single cubic structure. The lattice parameter of the cubic zirconia was estimated as a function of the Er, Y and Ce atomic fraction using a simplified semi-quantitative formula. On the experimental side, it is necessary to further investigate the ideal fabrication conditions, because some gel spheres were opaque and fragile and most of the sintered spheres were cracked, nicked and porous.
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U2 - 10.1016/S0022-3115(03)00130-2
DO - 10.1016/S0022-3115(03)00130-2
M3 - Conference article
AN - SCOPUS:0038696370
SN - 0022-3115
VL - 319
SP - 31
EP - 36
JO - Journal of Nuclear Materials
JF - Journal of Nuclear Materials
T2 - Proceedings of the 8th Inert Matrix Fuel Workshop
Y2 - 16 October 2002 through 18 October 2002
ER -