Architecture and properties of TCR fuel form

Abstract

The fuel form developed for the Transformational Challenge Reactor demonstration program leverages recent advances in manufacturing, materials, and computational sciences, delivering a new architecture for production of high-performance microencapsulated nuclear fuels. The fuel consists of conventionally manufactured uranium nitride tristructural isotropic fuel particles embedded inside a 3D-printed silicon carbide matrix. This paper describes the overall architecture and manufacturing process for this fuel form, its properties and behavior, and the ongoing development activities.