Nuclear Fuels – Present and Future

Abstract

The important developments in new nuclear fuels are reviewed and compared with the status of present light-water reactor fuels. The limitations of LWR fuels are reviewed with respect to important recent concerns, namely provision of outlet coolant temperatures high enough for use in H₂ production, destruction of plutonium to eliminate proliferation concerns, and burning of the minor actinides to reduce the waste repository heat load and long-term radiation hazard. In addition to current oxide-based fuel-rod designs, the hydride fuel with liquid metal thermal bonding of the fuel-cladding gap is covered. Finally, two of the most promising Generation IV reactor concepts, the Very High Temperature Reactor(VHTR) and the Sodium Fast Reactor (SFR) , and the accompanying reprocessing technologies, aqueous-based UREX+1a for the VHTR and pyrometallurgical for the SFR, are summarized.