Nuclear fuel design

Contenu(s)

F1. Nuclear fuels design (Lecture: 12h, Tutorials: 8h), M. Zabiego (CEA)

Lectures

• What are nuclear fuels made for?
• Types of reactors and operating conditions of fuels.
• Fuels for:
• LWR [Light Water Reactors including PWR, BWR],
• SFR [Sodium cooled Fast Reactors],
• HTR [High Temperature Reactors],
• MTR [Material Testing Reactors].
• Fuel claddings:
• Zirconium alloys for Thermal Reactors,
• Steels for Fast Reactors.
• Assemblies, bundles, rods, pins, plates and particles.
• Physical properties and phase diagrams of actinides oxides.
• Mechanical dimensioning and criteria.

Tutorials

Various case studies through which attending students are given the opportunity to tackle both functional analysis and computational design by themselves. The computational approach is addressed by using the finite element solver CAST3M and fuel design codes developed by the CEA (CELAENO, METEOR, GERMINAL...).