Research and Development of Fuel Element for Chinese 10 MW High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor

Abstract

Abstract The fuel elements for Chinese 10 MW High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTR-10) are spherical all- ceramic fuel elements (SFE). TRISO (Tri-isotropic) coated fuel particles (CP) are uniformly dispersed in the graphite matrix of the fuel element. All radiological fission products are almost completely retained inside the SiC layer of the intact CP. The fabrication of SFE includes UO2 kernel preparation by sol-gel method, pyrolytic carbon (PyC) and SiC coating on the UO2 kernels by Chemical Vapor Deposition, manufacture of SFE by the quasi-isostatic pressing and the inspection of over 30 kinds of properties. This paper describes research and development (R & D) and design specification of the HTR-10 SEF, summarizes the fabrication technology and quality control mastered in R & D for HTR-10 SFE. KEYWORDS: coated fuel particlesspherical fuel elementsHTGR type reactorsChinafuel fabricationfuel particlesdesignfeasibility studies