High burn-up issues in fast breeder reactor fuels and structural materials

Abstract

Fast breeder reactors (FBR) are essential to enhance the share of nuclear power to meet the growing energy demands in India. For economic viability and sustainability of nuclear power, there is urgent need to achieve higher fuel burn-up so as to reduce the fuel cycle cost and supply power at competitive rates. Indian energy scenario demands development of high burn-up and high breeding capable fuels working with high safety and performance levels typical of FBRs. However, this poses many challenges in the development of advanced fuels as well as structural materials which can cope up with the rigorous environment in fast reactors. Prospective fuels for FBRs include mixed oxide, carbide, nitride and metallic fuels. Choice of core structural materials range from the conventional austenitic stainless steel to ferritic steels and oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) steels. Various issues limiting the achievable burn-up in fuels and structural materials of fast breeder reactors are discussed in this paper.