Fabrication and Comparison of Fuels for Advanced Gas Reactor Irradiation Tests

As part of the program to demonstrate TRISO-coated fuel for the Next Generation Nuclear Plant, a series of irradiation tests of Advanced Gas Reactor (AGR) fuel are being performed in the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) at the Idaho National Laboratory. In the first test, called “AGR-1,” graphite compacts containing approximately 300,000 coated particles were irradiated from December 2006 until November 2009. Development of AGR-1 fuel sought to replicate the properties of German TRISO-coated particles. No particle failures were seen in the nearly 3-year irradiation to a burn up of 19%. The AGR-1 particles were coated in a two-inch diameter coater. Following fabrication of AGR-1 fuel, process improvements and changes were made in each of the fabrication processes. Changes in the kernel fabrication process included replacing the carbon black powder feed with a surface-modified carbon slurry and shortening the sintering schedule. AGR-2 TRISO particles were produced in a six-inch diameter coater using a change size about twenty-one times that of the two-inch diameter coater used to coat AGR-1 particles. Changes were also made in the compacting process, including increasing the temperature and pressure of pressing and using a different type of press. Irradiation of AGR-2 fuel began in late spring 2010. Properties of AGR-2 fuel compare favorably with AGR-1 and historic German fuel. Kernels are more homogeneous in shape, chemistry and density. TRISO-particle sphericity, layer thickness standard deviations, and defect fractions are also comparable. In a sample of 317,000 particles from deconsolidated AGR-2 compacts, 3 exposed kernels were found in a leach test. No SiC defects were found in a sample of 250,000 deconsolidated particles, and no IPyC defects in a sample of 64,000 particles. The primary difference in properties between AGR-1 and AGR-2 compacts is that AGR-2 compacts have a higher matrix density, 1.6 g/cm3 compared to about 1.3 g/cm3 for AGR-1 compacts. Based on fuel properties, excellence performance is expected for the AGR-2 UCO fuel.