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Developments in Fabrication of Annular MOX Fuel Pellet for Indian Fast Reactor

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Developments in Fabrication of Annular MOX Fuel Pellet for Indian Fast Reactor Developments in fabrication of annular MOX fuel pellet for Indian fast reactor A.K. Mishra1,#, B.K. Shelke1, M.K. Yadav1, Mohd. Afzal1, Arun Kumar2, G.J. Prasad2 1Advanced Fuel Fabrication Facility, 2Nuclear Fuels Group, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Tarapur- 401 502, India. #Email address: [email protected] Abstract Mechanical rotary presses along with adoption of core rod feature were inducted for fabrication of intricate annular Mixed Oxide (MOX) pellets for Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR). In the existing tooling, bottom plungers contain core rod whereas top plungers contain a central hole for the entry of core rod during compaction. Frequent manual clean up of top plungers after few operations were required due to settling of powder in the annular hole of top plungers during compaction. Delay in cleaning can also result in breakage of tooling apart from increase in the dose to extremities of personnel. New design of tooling has been introduced to clean up the top plungers online during the operation of rotary press. It leads to increase in the productivity, reduces the spillage of valuable nuclear material and also reduces man-rem to operators significantly. The present paper describes the modification in tooling design and compaction sequence established for online cleaning of top plungers. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ International Conference on Fast Reactors and Related Fuel Cycles: Safe Technologies and Sustainable Scenarios (FR13), 4–7 March 2013, Paris, France 1. Introduction Indian Nuclear Power Programme is based on closed nuclear fuel cycle for efficient utilization of its nuclear resources. This strategy also enables waste classification and minimizes long-lived waste disposal problem. The three stage nuclear programmes envisage indigenous PHWRs in the first stage, Fast Breeder Reactors in the second stage and thorium utilization in the third stage. Fast reactors are essential for India not only for its contribution to nuclear power but for extension of its modest resources. Commissioning of Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR) at Kalpakkam represents our first attempt in this direction. FBTR was fuelled with Mark I mixed carbide fuel of composition (U0.3,Pu0.7)C for the initial core which was followed by Mark II fuel of (U0.45,Pu0.55)C for the extended core. The mixed carbide fuel has performed exceedingly well and its burn-up has exceeded 1, 00,000 MWd/Te without any fuel failure. (U-Pu) MOX fuel was selected as the driver fuel for our Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR- 500) because of our good technology base for (U, Pu) MOX fuel manufacture for thermal reactors as well as industrial scale reprocessing experience with oxide fuels of PHWRs. The world-wide experience also indicates (U, Pu) MOX fuel has high burn-up potential, excellent safety response and overall acceptability at a higher level in all parts the fuel cycle. Advanced Fuel Fabrication Facility (AFFF), BARC, Tarapur has been fabricating MOX fuel of various type for thermal and fast reactors such as Boiling Water Reactors (BWRs), Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) and Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR). Presently, AFFF has taken up responsibility for fabrication of annular MOX fuel for first core of Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR). The MOX fuel is being fabricated through powder metallurgical route involving cold compaction and sintering. Annular MOX fuel pellets of two compositions i.e. 21% and 28% PuO2 are being fabricated for PFBR. A large number of (U, Pu)O2 MOX pellets have to be fabricated for the first core of PFBR. The fabrication of MOX fuel is carried out in α-leak tight glove boxes line to comply with safety requirements. It creates lot of constraints like space restriction, accessibility, maintainability and handling of material during the fabrication of plutonium based mixed oxide fuel. Hence, consideration of all aspects is required prior to selection of equipment [1]. Fabrication of annular MOX pellets with outer diameter 5.55 mm and annuls of about 1.8 mm with inner diametrical tolerance of less than + 0.20 mm without grinding an inner surface is a challenging task. Fabrication of annular pellet demands incorporation of additional tooling i.e. core rod assembly that provides relative motion with respect to bottom plunger. Initially, hydraulic press was inducted with modified tooling for fabrication of intricate annular pellet [2]. The major restrictions in using hydraulic press for final compaction of annular PFBR MOX pellet was complex tooling design due to requirement of core rod, complicated tool changing and maintenance. Hence, it is generally preferred to adopt a press having easy core rod adoption facility. Rotary press has been inducted for final compaction of MOX pellet over hydraulic press due its high rate of production, simple design of tooling, easy way of tool changing, easy adoption of core rod feature and no chance of Oil leakage. This paper deals with technology developed for fabrication of annular MOX pellet. It also describes modification carried out in tooling design and compaction sequence established for instantaneous online cleaning of top plunger during operation of rotary press. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ International Conference on Fast Reactors and Related Fuel Cycles: Safe Technologies and Sustainable Scenarios (FR13), 4–7 March 2013, Paris, France 2. Fabrication The flowsheet for fabrication of MOX fuel fabrication along with the quality control checks at different process steps is shown in Fig. 1. Uranium dioxide and plutonium dioxide powder along with organic binder as Polyethylene Glycol and lubricant as Oleic acid were first weighed and then milled together in an indigenously developed attritor to get the required enrichment and homogeneity. Proper choice of binder and lubricant has a considerable significance in achieving desired specification of pellets [3-5]. The milled material was pre-compacted and the pre-compacts were granulated in the size range of 500-1200 µm. These granules were used in final compaction to make the green pellets. Final compaction of MOX annular pellets was carried out in a rotary press. Sintering of green pellets was done in a batch o type resistance heating furnace under reducing atmosphere (mixed N2-7% H2 gas) at 1600 C for 4-6 h. Oversize pellets were ground to acceptable size by a dry centerless grinder. Physical and chemical specifications of sintered pellets for PFBR are given in Table 1. The inspected pellets were loaded into clad tubes for encapsulation. Table 1 Physical and Chemical Specification of PFBR MOX fuel. Outer Diameter of pellet 5.55 ± 0.05 mm Inner diameter of pellet 1.8 ± 0.2 mm Length of pellet 7.0 mm (nominal) Linear Mass of pellet 2.25 ± 0.15 g/cm PuO2 enrichment (nominal) 21 ± 1% & 28 ± 1 % Equivalent Hydrogen Content < 3 ppm Total Concentration of Impurities < 5000 ppm ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ International Conference on Fast Reactors and Related Fuel Cycles: Safe Technologies and Sustainable Scenarios (FR13), 4–7 March 2013, Paris, France U, O/M, S.A Pu, Am, Isotopes, UO2 PuO2 Impurities Impurities ATTRITOR MILLING NWCC PRECOMPACTION & GRANULATION FINAL COMPACTION GLM, DIA, HEIGHT SINTERING SLM, DIA, H, (U/Pu), Metallography CENTERLESS GRINDING VISUAL DIA CHECK INSPECTION REJECTS H, O/M, F, Cl, VACCUM DEGASSING N , Metallic 2 impurities STACK MAKING STACK REJECTS INSPECTION & RADIOMETRY PELLET LOADING Weld chemistry, FUEL ELEMENT WELDING Metallography DECONTAMINATION Visual, He leak, DECLADDING X-ray REJECT radiography, γ PELLETS autoradiograph WIRE WRAPPING Assembly inspection, Contaminatio PACKING AND TRANSPORT n check Fig.1 Flowsheet for fabrication of MOX fuel. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ International Conference on Fast Reactors and Related Fuel Cycles: Safe Technologies and Sustainable Scenarios (FR13), 4–7 March 2013, Paris, France 3. Annular pellet fabrication technique for PFBR Depending on the feed material, die fill, final compact shape and dimension, compacting pressure, the type of press, the tooling is designed. Various techniques for the fabrication of annular pellet and the sequence of operation are available in literature [6]. Technology for fabrication of annular pellet using indigenous rotary press has been developed at Advanced Fuel Fabrication Facility (AFFF). Annular pellet fabrication demands incorporation of additional tooling i.e. core rod assembly that provides relative motion with respect to bottom plunger as compared to solid pellet fabrication. Core rod assembly is consists of core rod and core rod holder. Core rod is prone to failure due to misalignment or incomplete die filling, which causes eccentric loading. It is also subjected to wear during the operation. Hence proper selection of core rod material should be done to increase the life of the tooling. The core rod with sufficient toughness can be used to overcome the non- uniform stresses developed during compaction and should also be capable of resisting the ejection loads imposed. Core rod dimension play vital role in achieving inner diameter specification, since it is not easy grind inner surface of an annular pellet. 3.1 Constraint during fabrication of PFBR annular pellets 1. All the fabrication steps had to be carried out
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