METHOD OF PRODUCING CERAMIC NUCLEAR FUEL PELLETS WITH CONTROLLED MICROSTRUCTURE Russian patent published in 2014 - IPC G21C3/62 

FIELD: physics.

SUBSTANCE: method of producing ceramic nuclear fuel pellets with a controlled microstructure includes adding to a ready plasticiser or water at the plasticiser preparation step aqueous solutions of water-soluble aluminium and silicon compounds as dopants, forming a homogeneous mixture, mixing the obtained mixture with uranium dioxide or a mixture of uranium dioxide with a burnable absorber and/or uranium oxide concentrate, preparing moulding powder from the obtained mixture, moulding pellets, high-temperature sintering and polishing said pellets. Preferably, the water-soluble aluminium and silicon compounds used are aluminium nitrate and sodium silicate. In that case, the burnable absorber is used in amount of 0.3-15.0 wt % of the mass of uranium dioxide. In a special case, the burnable absorber used is erbium oxide or gadolinium oxide. In the special case, the uranium oxide concentrate is used in amount of not more than 30 wt % of the mass of uranium dioxide.

EFFECT: high stability of the grain size of pelleted UO₂ fuel, simple process of preparation thereof and high nuclear purity of the pellets.

5 cl, 5 dwg