A nuclear fuel assembly and a method of manufacture thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2023036331-A1
Application number	US-202117758443-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 8, 2021
Priority date	Jan 9, 2020
Publication date	Feb 2, 2023
Grant date	—

Abstract

A nuclear fuel assembly and a method of manufacture thereof are provided. The method comprises depositing a thermally conductive layer onto at least a portion of at least two nuclear fuel layers to create at least two at least partially coated layers. The method comprises stacking the at least two coated layers and bonding the at least two coated layers to form a nuclear fuel assembly.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method comprising:
depositing a thermally conductive layer onto at least a portion of at least two nuclear fuel layers to create at least two at least partially coated layers; stacking the at least two coated layers; and bonding the at least two coated layers to form a nuclear fuel assembly.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein depositing the thermally conductive layer comprises physical vapor deposition, spraying, mechanically joining, melting, or a combination thereof.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein depositing the thermally conductive layer comprises depositing a first thermally conductive layer onto at least a portion of a first side of a nuclear fuel layer and a second thermally conductive layer onto at least a portion of a second side of the nuclear fuel layer.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein bonding the at least two coated layers comprises diffusion bonding, sintering, welding, brazing, melting, or a combination thereof.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein melting comprises microwave heating, inductively coupled heating, or a combination thereof.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the thermally conductive layer comprises titanium, a titanium alloy, molybdenum, a molybdenum alloy, tungsten, a tungsten alloy, zirconium, a zirconium alloy, beryllium, a beryllium alloy, chromium, a chromium alloy, a uranium boride, or a combination thereof.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the thermally conductive layer comprises zirconium.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the thermally conductive layer comprises an integral fuel burnable absorber.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the nuclear fuel layer comprises uranium, a uranium alloy, a uranium compound, plutonium, a plutonium alloy, plutonium compound, thorium, a thorium alloy, thorium compound, or a combination thereof.

10 . A nuclear fuel assembly comprising:
a stack of at least two at least partially coated layers bonded together, each coated layer comprising:
a nuclear fuel layer; and
a thermally conductive layer disposed on at least a portion of the nuclear fuel layer.

11 . The nuclear fuel assembly of claim 10 , wherein each coated layer comprises a first thermally conductive layer disposed on at least a portion of a first side of the nuclear fuel layer and a second thermally conductive layer disposed on at least a portion of a second side of the nuclear fuel layer.

12 . The nuclear fuel assembly of claim 10 , wherein the thermally conductive layer comprises titanium, a titanium alloy, molybdenum, a molybdenum alloy, tungsten, a tungsten alloy, zirconium, a zirconium alloy, beryllium, a beryllium alloy, chromium, a chromium alloy, a uranium boride, or a combination thereof.

13 . The nuclear fuel assembly of claim 10 , wherein the thermally conductive layer comprises zirconium or a zirconium alloy.

14 . The nuclear fuel assembly of claim 13 , wherein the thermally conductive layer further comprises hafnium, a hafnium alloy, erbium, an erbium alloy, gadolinium, a gadolinium alloy, or a combination thereof.

15 . The nuclear fuel assembly of claim 14 , wherein the thermally conductive layer comprises a range of 0.01% to 20%, by total weight of the thermally conductive layer, hafnium, a hafnium alloy, erbium, an erbium alloy, gadolinium, a gadolinium alloy, or a combination thereof.

16 . The nuclear fuel assembly of claim 10 , wherein the thermally conductive layer comprises uranium diboride, wherein the boron content of the uranium diboride is at least 95% boron-11 by total weight of the boron content in the uranium diboride.

17 . The nuclear fuel assembly of claim 10 , wherein the thermally conductive layer comprises a mixture of uranium diboride and beryllium oxide.

18 . The nuclear fuel assembly of claim 10 , wherein the thermally conductive layer comprises an integral fuel burnable absorber (IFBA).

19 . The nuclear fuel assembly of claim 18 , wherein the IFBA comprises a boride alloy, gadolinium, a gadolinium alloy, erbium, an erbium alloy, hafnium, a hafnium alloy, or a combination thereof.

20 . The nuclear fuel assembly of claim 19 , wherein the IFBA further comprises mixtures containing beryllium, beryllium oxide, or a combination thereof.

21 . The nuclear fuel assembly of claim 10 , wherein the nuclear fuel layer comprises uranium, a uranium alloy, uranium compound, plutonium, a plutonium alloy, plutonium compound, thorium, a thorium alloy, thorium compound, or a combination thereof.

Assignees

• Westinghouse Electric Co Llc

Inventors

• Lahoda Edward J
• Armstrong Clinton B
• Petrosky Lyman J

Classifications

• G21C7/04

  of burnable poisons (burnable poisons in fuel rods G21C3/326) · CPC title

• G21C3/36

  Assemblies of plate-shaped fuel elements or coaxial tubes · CPC title

• G21C3/20 Primary

  with coating on fuel or on inside of casing; with non-active interlayer between casing and active material {with multiple casings or multiple active layers} · CPC title

• G21C21/02 Primary

  Manufacture of fuel elements or breeder elements contained in non-active casings · CPC title

• G21C3/18

  Internal spacers or other non-active material within the casing, e.g. compensating for expansion of fuel rods or for compensating excess reactivity (interlayers G21C3/20) · CPC title