Evaluation of MA recycling concept with high Am-containing MOX (Am-MOX) fuel and development of its related fuel fabrication process

Tanaka, Kenya; Ishii, Tetsuya; Yoshimochi, Hiroshi; Asaka, Takeo

As a part of the economic evaluation of the MA recycling system, the management cost of high level radioactive waste was estimated quantitatively. The development of an innovative fuel fabrication process has been done by using UO powder, U metal particles and Mo powder. From comparisons of granulated material characteristics, two candidate methods, mixing granulation (MIX/G) and extruding granulation (EXT/G), were considered to have good feasibility as the fuel fabrication process. In the preliminary sintering test of granulated UO obtained by EXT/G, a high density UO pellet (97% of TD) with 5wt% of U and 5wt% of Mo was successfully sintered. From the results of thermal conductivity measurements, it was confirmed that the dispersion of Mo powder and U metal into the oxide matrix was an effective way to improve the characteristic.