Development of oxygen-to-metal ratio of MOX pellet adjustment technology for the simplified MOX pellet fabrication method in the FaCT project

Takano, Tatsuo; Sudo, Katsuo ; Takeuchi, Kentaro ; Kihara, Yoshiyuki; Kato, Masato   

Development of high burn-up fuels is essential to improve economy of the fast reactor fuel cycle. Increase of fuel burn-up is known to cause fuel-cladding chemical interaction (FCCI) and it mainly determines a lifetime of fuel pin. In order to extend a lifetime of fuel pin by mitigating FCCI, development of low oxygen-to-metal (O/M) MOX fuel has been carried out in plutonium fuel development center of JAEA. MOX fuel needs adjustment of the O/M ratio to less than 1.97 for high burn-up of 150 GWd/t. Therefore, O/M adjustment technology is one of the main subjects in development of a simplified MOX pellet fabrication method which has been advanced in the FaCT (Fast reactor Cycle Technology development) project. In previous work, changes in O/M ratio of MOX pellet during heat treatment were calculated from measurement results of oxygen potentials. On the basis of above calculation, heating tests were carried out to prepare low O/M ratio MOX pellets on a laboratory scale. The O/M ratios obtained in the heating tests were well consistent with calculation results. In the present study, a kilogram MOX scale furnace to adjust O/M ratio of MOX pellets for targeted value has been developed as next step.