Laminated Rare Earth Structures
Available for licensing in all fields
Optical Micrograph (220X) of Zircaloy/Erbium/Zircaloy Laminate Produced by Hot Roll Bonding to 20% Reduction at 800°C. (Full size image)
Summary
Neutron absorbers incorporated in the pimary coolant or fuel assemblies, dedicated rods, fuel pellet coatings or as dispersions are the traditional approaches used in maintaining reactivity and optimizing fuel burnup for continuous and economical power production in many nuclear reactors. Limitations to these approaches encouraged the use of erbium as absorbing element in coating and fabricating the fuel cladding.
This invention was developed to incorporate erbium in a structure from which boiling water reactor fuel channels could be fabricated in a cost-effective manner while maximizing fuel loading and flexibility in meeting reactivity needs, and increasing fuel burnup and operating cycle length. The result is a method to create robust, metallurgically-bonded laminates of Ziraloy-4 and erbium.
Advantages
- The Zircolay-to-erbium bonds can be bent to 90 degrees without introducing cracks or delaminations.