It is safer, efficient and hard more

During the last five years the modular and compact fission reactorsknown as SMR for its English denomination (Small Modular Reactor), have monopolized all the prominence. These machines are called replace reactors of nuclear fission Conventional because, without investigating their peculiarities, they are smaller, clean, safe and cheap. However, it is currently innovating in this field beyond the reactors.

Another area to which some research and companies are dedicating their resources is the fuel used in this form of electricity generation. As we explain in the article we publish after visiting The fuel bars factory That the Spanish public company enusa advanced industries in Salamanca, the fuel usually used in the fission reactors is made up of slightly enriched uranium oxide (never above 5%).

This means that at most only 5% of the total mass of uranium is the Uranium-235 isotope (which is the “easily” fistable), while the rest is mostly Uranium-238. It may seem that there is very little uranium-235 in front of the total mass of uranium, but in reality this amount is sufficient to sustain the reaction of nuclear fission. On the other hand, this is the proportion set by international regulations for the production of fuel for nuclear power plants. An interesting note: nuclear weapons use high enrichment uranium, so more than 90% of the total mass is Uranium-235.

Lightbridge Fuel is ready to replace the conventional fuel

To manufacture the fuel bars used by most of the reactors in operation, it is necessary to subject the uranium to the mixing, pressed, sintering, rectified and inspection processes. These procedures are carried out in an area of ​​the factory known as the ceramic area, and the mechanical area takes over to manufacture the combustible elements that will finally go to nuclear power plants. What the American company Lightbridge Corporation proposes with its Lightbridge Fuel nuclear fuel is different.

Its fuel has been designed to be used in light water reactors and existing heavy water pressurized, so it has been developed with the vocation of replace traditional fuel bars. The main contribution of the Lightbridge Fuel fuel is that in its production a process known as coextrition is involved.

It consists of covering the cylindrical pills of impoverished uranium and zirconium with an alloy of zirconium and then subdue this structure at high pressure in a die with the purpose of shapeing a cylindrical rod of approximately 2.4 meters long.

Circonium alloy used in the coating is crucial to confine radioactive fuel within the nuclear reactor. In any case, the really important thing is that according to its creators the Lightbridge fuel fuel Stop in several key parameters to the conventional fuel.

“By integrating the uranium and zirconium alloy with a nuclear degree coating material we are improving the safety, efficiency and fuel performance,” Assures Scott HolcombeVice President of Engineering of Lightbridge Corporation. If this fuel finally exceeds all relevant security tests and is approved by the regulatory authorities in the future, it can also be used in modular and compact reactors (SMR).

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