KTH tests sophisticated nuclear fuel
KTH has been co-ordinating CONFIRM, an EU project for developing sophisticated nitride fuels designed for the transmutation of long-life nuclear waste. The new fuel will be tested in a Dutch reactor during late November.
On Nov. 24 two fuel rods of plutonium-zirkonium nitride will be exposed to high-energy radiation inside the HFR test reactor. The experiment aims to find out how the new fuel substance reacts. This fuel was manufactured in Switzerland by means of a method devised at KTH. As it is a nitride, its inherent heat conductivity is ten times higher than that of traditional fuel compositions.
Originally, this experiment was meant to be conducted at the Swedish research station in Studsvik, but since Studsvik´s own reactors have now been closed it had to be moved elsewhere.
More information: Jan Wallenius, Div. of Reactor Physics
Olle Blomqvist