Americium Utilization Via Pyroelectrochemical Granulation and Vibrocompaction Technologies

Abstract

An experiment in which americium is introduced into the composition of fuel pins with vibrocompacted uranium-plutonium oxide fuel is described within the scope of work performed on the development of a closed fuel cycle for a fast reactors. Possible directions of R&D work for validating the design, fabrication technology, and serviceability of fuel pins with fuel containing americium are examined. A variant based on the chemical-technological complex at the Research Institute for Atomic Reactors (NIIAR) is proposed for developing centralized production of americium burn-out elements for liquid-metal cooled fast reactors. The assimilated remote-controlled technologies of pyroelectrochemical granulation of oxide fuel compositions and vibrocompaction in radiation protected boxes as well as the automated equipment specially developed within the special federal program are proposed for manufacturing the burn-out elements.