Fuels for sodium-cooled fast reactors: US perspective

The US experience with mixed oxide, metal, and mixed carbide fuels is substantial, comprised of irradiation of over 50 000 MOX rods, over 130 000 metal rods, and 600 mixed carbide rods, in EBR-II and FFTF alone. All three types have been demonstrated capable of fuel utilization at or above 200 GWd/MTHM. To varying degrees, life-limiting phenomena for each type have been identified and investigated, and there are no disqualifying safety-related fuel behaviors. All three fuel types appear capable of meeting requirements of sodium-cooled fast reactor fuels, with reliability of mixed oxide and metal fuel well established. Improvements in irradiation performance of cladding and duct alloys have been a key development in moving these fuel designs toward higher-burnup potential. Selection of one fuel system over another will depend on circumstances particular to the application and on issues other than fuel performance, such as fabrication cost or overall system safety performance.