Characterization of spark plasma sintered nuclear fuel materials
department or school: Applied Science, Faculty of
department or school: Engineering, School of (Okanagan)
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCO
creator: Prasad, Anil
issued: 2021-08-01T07:00:00Z
issued: 2020
related degree: Doctor of Philosophy - PhD
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: Nuclear fission energy is playing a vital role in providing many countries with carbon-free energy. However, nuclear accidents such as the Fukushima, Chernobyl, and Three Mile Island, have raised questions about the accident tolerance of nuclear power plants around the world. As a result, nuclear energy scientists and engineers are continuously working towards making nuclear fission energy safer. As a part of this effort, the concept of Accident Tolerant Fuel (ATF) is being investigated globally by optimising geometric or material properties of nuclear fuel. The global CANada Deuterium Uranium (CANDU) fleet of reactors are capable of utilising both Uranium dioxide (UO₂) and Thorium dioxide (ThO₂) as fuel without enrichment. In this study, development of ATF fuel was investigated by both geometric and material approaches for both Uranium dioxide and Thorium dioxide fuel materials targeted for CANDU reactor application. Material additives, such as SiC, diamond, CNTs, graphene etc. decompose under the extreme thermal conditions used during conventional sintering of nuclear fuels. In this study, Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) was used to synthesize nuclear fuel materials and their composites and to study their densificiation mechanisms during sintering. The study covered the two different forms of ATF: ThO₂ based composite fuels (ThO₂-SiC, ThO₂-diamond and (Th,U)O₂) and Internally and eXternally cooled Annular Fuel (IXAF). The first part of the dissertation focused on studying the densification kinetics of ThO₂ and its composites, which enabled the construction of Master Sintering Curves (MSCs) that could be used as roadmaps for future SPS research on these fuel materials. The second part of the dissertation focused on the comparison of IXAF fabricated via SPS and conventional sintering.
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/75286
note: Characterization of Spark PlasmaSintered Nuclear Fuel MaterialsbyAnil PrasadM.A.Sc, The University Of British Columbia, Canada, 2017B.Tech, The Indian Institute Of Technology Madras, India, 2015A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OFTHE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OFDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHYinThe College Of Graduate Studies(Mechanical Engineering)THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA(Okanagan)July 2020© Anil Prasad 2020The undersigned certify that they have read, and recommend to the College of GraduateStudies for acceptance, a dissertation titled: "Characterization of Spark Plasma SinteredNuclear Fuel Materials" submitted by Anil Prasad in partial fullment of the requirements ofthe degree of Doctor of Philosophy.Dr. Lukas Bichler, Mechanical Engineering, School of EngineeringSupervisor, ProfessorDr. Dimitry Sediako, Mechanical Engineering, School of EngineeringSupervisory Committee Member, ProfessorDr. Jian Liu, Mechanical Engineering, School of EngineeringSupervisory Committee Member, ProfessorDr. Stephen O’Leary, Electrical Engineering, School of EngineeringUniversity Examiner, ProfessorDr. Mathieu Brochu, Materials Engineering, McGill UniversityExternal Examiner, ProfessorJuly 20, 2020(Date Submitted to College of Graduate Studies)iiAbstractNuclear ssion energy is playing a vital role in providing many countries withcarbon-free energy. However, nuclear accidents such as the Fukushima, Chernobyl andThree Mile Island, have raised questions about the accident tolerance of nuclear powerplants around the world. As a result, nuclear energy scientists and engineers arecontinuously working towards making nuclear ssion energy safer. As a part of this e ort,the concept of Accident Tolerant Fuel (ATF) is being investigated globally by optimisinggeometric or material properties of nuclear fuel. The global CANada Deuterium Uranium(CANDU) eet of reactors are capable of utilising both Uranium dioxide (UO2) and Thoriumdioxide (ThO2) as fuel without enrichment. In this study,…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2020-09
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0392558
language: eng
degree discipline: Mechanical Engineering
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/75286