MOX Fuel Fabrication at AECL

Abstract

Atomic Energy of Canada Limited's mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel fabrication activities are conducted in the Recycle Fuel Fabrication Laboratories (RFFL) at the Chalk River Laboratories. The RFFL facility is designed to produce experimental quantities of CANDU® MOX fuel for reactor physics tests or demonstration irradiations. From 1979 to 1987, several MOX he1fabrication campaigns were run in the RFFL, producing various quantities of fuel with different compositions. About 150 bundles, containing over three tomes of MOX, were fabricated in the RFFL before operations in the facility were suspended. In late 1987, the RFFL was placed in a state of active standby, a condition where no fuel fabrication activities are conducted, but the monitoring and ventilation systems in the facility are maintained.

Currently, a project to rehabilitate the RFFL and resume MOX fuel fabrication is nearing completion. This project is funded by the CANDU Owners' Group (COG). The initial fabrication campaign will consist of the production of thirty-eight 37-element (U,Pu)O₂ bundles containing 0.3 wt% Pu in Heavy Element (H.E.) destined for physics tests in the zero-power ZED-2 reactor.

An overview of the Rehabilitation Project will be given.