Development of nitride fuel and pyrochemical process for transmutation of minor actinides

Arai, Yasuo; Akabori, Mitsuo; Minato, Kazuo ; Uno, Masayoshi*

The progress of R&D on nitride fuel and pyrochemical process for transmutation of minor actinides are described. Nitride fuel was prepared by carbothermic reduction and characterized by X-ray diffraction and chemical analyses. In addition to minor actinide nitrides, burnup simulated nitrides and nitrides with inert diluent materials were prepared, and the thermal properties such as thermal conductivity were obtained. With regard to pyrochemical process, the electrode behavior of the above nitrides in the molten salt was clarified, and nitride power synthesized from actinides recovered in liquid cadmium cathode was used for nitride pellet preparation. Further, the irradiation tests of nitride fuel carried out in JAEA are introduced.