Drying experiments of CeO granules produced using wet granulator

Ishii, Katsunori ; Segawa, Tomoomi ; Kawaguchi, Koichi  

The Japan Atomic Energy Agency is developing a simplified mixed oxide (MOX) fuel fabrication process. In this process, a wet granulator improves the flowability of MOX raw powder for the pelletizing process 1, 2). Following this granulation step, the formed granules have moisture content of approximately 10 wt.%. To adhere to the acceptance standards regarding moisture content for the fuel pellet fabrication step, drying the granules under the moisture content of 1 wt.% using a dryer is necessary. To maintain the granule shape during powder handling and shaker process of a pressing machine, the granules must be adjusted to enough crushing strength. However, the relation between dry conditions and granule crushing strength has not been reported. Therefore, to estimate the appropriate heating conditions of the dryer, we investigated the influence of varying heating conditions on moisture content and granule crushing strength.