Sintering of Industrial Uranium Dioxide Pellets Using Microwave Radiation for Nuclear Fuel Fabrication

Abstract

In this study, the possibility of sintering industrial pressed uranium dioxide pellets using microwave radiation for the production of nuclear fuel is shown. As a result, the conditions for sintering pellets in an experimental microwave oven (power 2.9 kW, frequency 2.45 GHz) were chosen to ensure that the characteristics of the resulting fuel pellets meet the regulatory requirements for ceramic nuclear fuel, including the following: a density of about 10.44 g/cm3; a volume fraction of open pores of tablets of about 0.1%; an oxygen coefficient of no more than 2.002; hydrogen content of about 0.30 ppm; and the change in density after re-sintering on average no more than 1.16%.

Keywords

• microwave radiation
• sintering
• uranium dioxide
• fuel pellets