Brian E. Williams;Robert E. Benander;Dennis L. Youchison
发明人:
Dennis L. Youchison,Brian E. Williams,Robert E. Benander
申请号：
US12850752
公开号：
US08526566B1
申请日:
2010.08.05
申请国别(地区):
US
年份:
2013
代理人:
摘要：
Porous nuclear fuel elements for use in advanced high temperature gas-cooled nuclear reactors (HTGR's), and to processes for fabricating them. Advanced uranium bi-carbide, uranium tri-carbide and uranium carbonitride nuclear fuels can be used. These fuels have high melting temperatures, high thermal conductivity, and high resistance to erosion by hot hydrogen gas. Tri-carbide fuels, such as (U,Zr,Nb)C, can be fabricated using chemical vapor infiltration (CVI) to simultaneously deposit each of the three separate carbides, e.g., UC, ZrC, and NbC in a single CVI step. By using CVI, the nuclear fuel may be deposited inside of a highly porous skeletal structure made of, for example, reticulated vitreous carbon foam.
