Westinghouse Accident Tolerant Fuel and Additive Manufacturing Solutions for the SMR Market

Abstract

Westinghouse is developing accident tolerant fuel (ATF) designs; chromium-coated zirconium alloy cladding with doped UO₂ ADOPT™* fuel for commercial deployment in the mid-2020’s and silicon carbide (SiC) SiGA®* cladding with uranium nitride (U¹⁵N) fuel in Lead Test Assemblies in the early 2030’s. These ATF features are part of the Westinghouse EnCore®* fuel portfolio where funding is provided by US Department of Energy, (DOE). Westinghouse is also investing in additive manufacturing methods to help fabricate fuel components to improve performance and economics. The use of ATF and additive manufacturing methods can enhance the small modular reactor (SMR) fuel design, reactor core, fuel cycle economics and overall design of the SMR. The use of higher enriched fuel above 5 wt%, higher burnup and long cycles are also investigated in the fuel cycle evaluations. This paper discusses how ATF and additive manufacturing methods can produce benefits for SMR fuel design and reactor.