Design and fabrication of an advanced TRISO fuel with ZrC coating

• Zirconium carbide was deposited on surrogate zirconia & UO2 kernels.
• Deposition rates were found to be dependent on temperature and gas concentration.
• Calcining and sintering parameters were optimized to reduce cracking in UO2 kernel production.

Very high temperature reactors (VHTRs) are expected to achieve coolant outlet temperatures up to 1000 °C, allowing for increased plant efficiency as well as the ability to use the process heat for hydrogen production and various uses in the process chemical industry. The feasibility of using VHTRs as part of the next generation of nuclear reactors greatly depends on the reliability of tri-structural isotropic (TRISO) fuel particles to retain both gaseous and metallic fission products created in irradiated uranium dioxide (UO2). This work sought the deposition parameters necessary to produce an additional zirconium carbide (ZrC) layer used in advanced coated particle fuels. The additional ZrC layer will act as an oxygen getter to prevent typical TRISO failure mechanisms including over pressurization of the particle and kernel migration of the kernel within the particle, also known as the amoeba effect. In this study, ZrC coatings were applied to surrogate zirconia kernels as well as UO2 kernels using a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) fluidized bed reactor, and the deposition characteristics were analyzed via scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques. The ZrC layer was confirmed through X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The calcining and sintering of urania kernels for use in these coating experiments is also discussed.