NANOSTRUCTURED NUCLEAR FUEL PELLET (VERSIONS) AND NUCLEAR REACTOR FUEL ELEMENT (VERSIONS) Russian patent published in 2012 - IPC G21C3/00 

FIELD: physics, nuclear.

SUBSTANCE: group of inventions relates to nuclear power and specifically to pelleted nuclear fuel and fuel rods, and can be used in nuclear reactors of various types. The nuclear fuel pellet contains pressed and sintered powder of a mixture of particles of the compound U, which are uniform on effective size and density, and nanodiamonds. Another version is a pellet which contains pressed and sintered powder of a mixture of particles of the compound (U, Pu) and nanodiamonds. The nuclear reactor fuel element contains a tube made from cladding material with tightly welded end plugs, in the inner cavity of which a fuel kernel is placed with a spacing, said fuel kernel being assembled from the described coaxial pellets. In a special case, the gap between the fuel kernel and the fuel element cladding can be filled with material with high heat conductivity.

EFFECT: high strength and heat resistance of the pellet, slower process of crack initiation and propagation in said pellet, lower probability of disintegration of said pellet, low risk of disintegration of the fuel element cladding.

21 cl