The Production, Characterization and Neutronic Performance of Boron Nitride Coated Uranium Dioxide Fuel

Abstract

The fuel pellets produced by sol-gel technique were coated with boron nitride (BN). This was achieved through chemical vapor deposition (CVD) using boron trichloride and ammonia. Mixing and chemical reaction take place at a temperature around 875 K. The coated samples were then sintered at 1600 K. Thermal reactor physics lattice-cell code WIMS-Dl4 was used in the neutronic analysis of CANDU fuel bundle to observe the neutronic performance of the coated fuel. Three types of fuel were considered; fuel made of natural uranium, slightly enriched uranium (SEU, enrichment: 0.82 % U-235), and SEU with various BN coatings. The burnup calculations showed that feasible coating thickness is between 1 to 2 p.m.