Preparation and Performance Evaluation of Fuel Elements for Ultra-high Temperature Gas-cooled Reactors

Liu Malin; Cheng Xinyu; Liu Bing; Wang Taowei; Liu Zebing; Yang Xu; Liu Rongzheng; Shao Youlin

doi:10.13832/j.jnpe.2024.S2.0231

Volume 45 Issue S2

Jan. 2025

Turn off MathJax

Article Contents

Article Navigation > Nuclear Power Engineering > 2024 > 45(S2): 231-237

Liu Malin, Cheng Xinyu, Liu Bing, Wang Taowei, Liu Zebing, Yang Xu, Liu Rongzheng, Shao Youlin. Preparation and Performance Evaluation of Fuel Elements for Ultra-high Temperature Gas-cooled Reactors[J]. Nuclear Power Engineering, 2024, 45(S2): 231-237. doi: 10.13832/j.jnpe.2024.S2.0231

Citation:

Liu Malin, Cheng Xinyu, Liu Bing, Wang Taowei, Liu Zebing, Yang Xu, Liu Rongzheng, Shao Youlin. Preparation and Performance Evaluation of Fuel Elements for Ultra-high Temperature Gas-cooled Reactors[J]. Nuclear Power Engineering, 2024, 45(S2): 231-237. doi: 10.13832/j.jnpe.2024.S2.0231

Citation:

Liu Malin, Cheng Xinyu, Liu Bing, Wang Taowei, Liu Zebing, Yang Xu, Liu Rongzheng, Shao Youlin. Preparation and Performance Evaluation of Fuel Elements for Ultra-high Temperature Gas-cooled Reactors[J]. Nuclear Power Engineering, 2024, 45(S2): 231-237. doi: 10.13832/j.jnpe.2024.S2.0231

PDF( 28444 KB)

Preparation and Performance Evaluation of Fuel Elements for Ultra-high Temperature Gas-cooled Reactors

doi: 10.13832/j.jnpe.2024.S2.0231

Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

Received Date: 2023-12-01
Rev Recd Date: 2024-10-22
Publish Date: 2025-01-06

Abstract

Abstract

According to the research and development requirements of future ultra-high temperature gas cooled reactors, the design of relevant fuel elements, preparation of new coating layers, high-temperature testing and evaluation of TRISO particles before and after irradiation have been carried out. Specifically, the preparation methods of fluidized bed chemical vapor deposition for SiC coating layers, ZrC coating layers, NbC coating layers, and carbide composite coating layers are studied. And the SiC coating layer was used in the ultra-high temperature testing, including pre irradiation (up to 2500℃) and post irradiation (up to 1770℃). The research results indicate that single-phase SiC coating, ZrC coating, NbC coating, and carbide composite coating can be prepared using fluidized bed chemical vapor deposition method with liquid methyltrichlorosilane, solid ZrCl₄, and NbCl₅ as precursors. The gas phase carrier transportation and gas powder transportation methods are developed. The large-scale preparation of SiC coating has been successfully obtained. It was found that the SiC coating layer of TRISO particles could withstand the high temperature of 2200℃ for a short time in the high-temperature test before irradiation. At temperatures above 2100℃, partial phase transformation, grain growth, and micro decomposition could be found, but the overall coating layer remained relatively intact. The high temperature test at 1770℃ after irradiation showed that high temperatures would accelerate the diffusion of some fission elements such as Cs in the dense pyrolysis carbon layer of TRISO particles. And no damage was found in the SiC coating layer, indicating that the ability to block fission products continued to be maintained. Besides, molecular simulations were used to simulate various microstructures and mixed crystal SiC coating materials after high-temperature testing and irradiation. The above research results provide reference for the research and development and performance evaluation of fuel elements in ultra-high temperature gas-cooled reactors in China, and are of great significance to the future development of ultra-high temperature gas-cooled reactors.
- Ultra-high temperature gas-cooled reactor,
- Fuel element,
- High temperature test,
- New coating layer,
- Irradiation test

FullText(HTML)

References(11)

References

[1]	LIU M L, WEN Y Y, LIU R Z, et al. Investigation of fluidization behavior of high density particle in spouted bed using CFD-DEM coupling method[J]. Powder Technology, 2015, 280: 72-82. doi: 10.1016/j.powtec.2015.04.042
[2]	LIU M L, LIU R Z, LIU B, et al. Preparation of the coated nuclear fuel particle using the fluidized bed-chemical vapor deposition (FB-CVD) method[J]. Procedia Engineering, 2015, 102: 1890-1895. doi: 10.1016/j.proeng.2015.01.328
[3]	刘马林,邵友林,刘兵. 包覆燃料颗粒制备的自动化控制系统设计与研制[J]. 原子能科学技术,2013, 47(6): 1013-1018. doi: 10.7538/yzk.2013.47.06.1013
[4]	LIU M L, CHEN Z, CHEN M, et al. Scale-up strategy study of coating furnace for TRISO particle fabrication based on numerical simulations[J]. Nuclear Engineering and Design, 2020, 357: 110413. doi: 10.1016/j.nucengdes.2019.110413
[5]	CHEN Z, JIANG L, YANG X, et al. Experimental study on the scale-up of a multi-ring inclined nozzle spout-fluid bed by electrical capacitance tomography[J]. International Journal of Chemical Reactor Engineering, 2022, 20(9): 1003-1015. doi: 10.1515/ijcre-2022-0006
[6]	CHENG X Y, YANG X, LIU M L, et al. Preparation of ZrC coating in TRISO fuel particles by precise transportation of solid precursor and its microstructure evolution[J]. Journal of Nuclear Materials, 2023, 574: 154222. doi: 10.1016/j.jnucmat.2022.154222
[7]	YANG X, CHENG X Y, LIU R Z, et al. Preparation and high temperature performance of NbC layer in TRISO particles[J]. Journal of the European Ceramic Society, 2022, 42(15): 6889-6897. doi: 10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2022.07.050
[8]	LIU R Z, LIU M L, CHANG J X, et al. An improved design of TRISO particle with porous SiC inner layer by fluidized bed-chemical vapor deposition[J]. Journal of Nuclear Materials, 2015, 467: 917-926. doi: 10.1016/j.jnucmat.2015.10.055
[9]	LIU Z B, CHENG X Y, YANG X, et al. Ultra-high temperature microstructural changes of SiC layers in TRISO particles[J]. Ceramics International, 2024, 50(1): 2331-2339. doi: 10.1016/j.ceramint.2023.11.007
[10]	王桃葳,刘马林,刘兵. 包覆燃料颗粒超高温运行条件下的结构完整性研究报告:2017ZX06901027-05.3[R]. 北京:清华大学核能与新能源技术研究院,2023.
[11]	严泽凡,刘泽兵,田宇,等. TRISO颗粒SiC层辐照行为与力学性能的分子动力学模拟[J]. 原子能科学技术,2024, 58(4): 856-867.