caa a22 4500 378897284 CHVBK 20180305123509.0 cr unu---uuuuu 161128e20041201xx s 000 0 eng 10.1524/ract.92.12.909.55110 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)gruyter-10.1524/ract.92.12.909.55110 Uranium kernel formation via internal gelation [Elektronische Daten] [Rodney D. Hunt, Jack L. Collins] In the 1970s and 1980s, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) conducted numerous studies on the fabrication of nuclear fuel particles using the internal gelation process. These amorphous kernels were prone to flaking or breaking when gases tried to escape from the kernels during calcination and sintering. These earlier kernels would not meet today´s proposed specifications for reactor fuel. In the interim, the internal gelation process has been used to create hydrous metal oxide microspheres for the treatment of nuclear waste. With the renewed interest in advanced nuclear fuel by the DOE, the lessons learned from the nuclear waste studies were recently applied to the fabrication of uranium kernels, which will become tri-isotropic (TRISO) fuel particles. These process improvements included equipment modifications, small changes to the feed formulations, and a new temperature profile for the calcination and sintering. The modifications to the laboratory-scale equipment and its operation as well as small changes to the feed composition increased the product yield from 60% to 80%-99%. The new kernels were substantially less glassy, and no evidence of flaking was found. Finally, key process parameters were identified, and their effects on the uranium microspheres and kernels are discussed. © 2004 Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag GmbH Laboratory techniques, experiments nationallicence Analytical chemistry nationallicence Inorganic chemistry nationallicence Hunt Rodney D. aut Collins Jack L. aut Radiochimica Acta/International journal for chemical aspects of nuclear science and technology Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag GmbH 92/12/2004(2004-12-01), 909-915 0033-8230 92:12/2004<909 2004 92 ract https://doi.org/10.1524/ract.92.12.909.55110 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1524/ract.92.12.909.55110 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Hunt Rodney D. aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Collins Jack L. aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Radiochimica Acta/International journal for chemical aspects of nuclear science and technology Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag GmbH 92/12/2004(2004-12-01), 909-915 0033-8230 92:12/2004<909 2004 92 ract CC0 http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0 nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-gruyter