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The Other Energy Markets
Published in Anco S. Blazev, Global Energy Market Trends, 2021
Some of the ceramic nuclear materials are: Uranium nitride (UN) is used in NASA reactor designs, because it has a better thermal conductivity than UO2, since it has a very high melting point. UN fuel has the disadvantage that a large amount of 14C would be generated from the nitrogen by the (n,p) reaction. As the nitrogen required for such a fuel would be so expensive it is likely that the fuel would have to be reprocessed by a pyro method to enable the 15N to be recovered. It is likely that if the fuel was processed and dissolved in nitric acid that the nitrogen enriched with 15N would be diluted with the common 14N.Uranium carbide was used in the form of pin-type fuel elements for liquid-metal fast breeder reactors during their intense study during the 60s and 70s. Recently there has been a revived interest in uranium carbide in the form of plate fuel and most notably, micro fuel particles (such as TRISO particles). The high thermal conductivity and high melting point makes uranium carbide an attractive fuel. In addition, because of the absence of oxygen in this fuel, as well as the ability to complement a ceramic coating, uranium carbide could be the ideal fuel candidate for certain Generation IV reactors such as the gas-cooled fast reactor.
Nuclear and Hydro Power
Published in Anco S. Blazev, Energy Security for The 21st Century, 2021
The high thermal conductivity and high melting point makes uranium carbide an attractive fuel. In addition, because of the absence of oxygen in this fuel, as well as the ability to complement a ceramic coating, uranium carbide could be the ideal fuel candidate for certain Generation IV reactors such as the gas-cooled fast reactor.
The Other Energy Sources
Published in Anco S. Blazev, Power Generation and the Environment, 2021
The high thermal conductivity and high melting point makes uranium carbide an attractive fuel. In addition, because of the absence of oxygen in this fuel, as well as the ability to complement a ceramic coating, uranium carbide could be the ideal fuel candidate for certain Generation IV reactors such as the gas-cooled fast reactor.
Evaluation of nanocrystalline hafnium nitride coating exposed to molten uranium
Published in Surface Engineering, 2018
A. Ravi Shankar, Vipin Chawla, P. Venkatesh, B. Prabhakara Reddy, Ramesh Chandra, U. Kamachi Mudali
Pyrochemical reprocessing plants involve high temperature, highly reactive molten uranium, cadmium and aggressive molten chloride environment, which demand corrosion-resistant materials and coatings. In pyrochemical reprocessing plant, ceramic coatings need to be applied on crucibles for cathode processor application where uranium, plutonium, traces of cadmium and LiCl-KCl salt are heated at high temperature to distil off the salt, while in an injection casting system U-Pu-Zr alloy is melted. Graphite is considered as one of the candidate structural materials because of its good high temperature strength, thermal shock resistance and ease of fabrication into crucibles. However, graphite reacts readily with molten uranium and forms uranium carbide. Ceramic coatings are usually applied on graphite crucibles employed for uranium melting applications in order to prevent the reaction between uranium and graphite and avoid subsequent formation of uranium carbide. Zirconia-coated graphite crucibles have been used for melting uranium in the cathode processor due to their ability to withstand high temperatures and release of consolidated products [1]. Zirconia wash coat applied on graphite crucibles protected graphite from making direct contact with uranium and gave good mould release; however, after melting, crucibles have to be cleaned to remove the excess zirconia with the help of wire brush and coating must be re-applied [1,2]. Cleaning and re-coating operations were eliminated with ceramic-lined crucibles although minor process losses and crucible degradation were observed [3].