Technische Universität München
Technical University of Munich (TUM) and Framatome develop new fuel based on a low enriched uranium-molybdenum alloy
TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF MUNICH
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NEWS RELEASE
Pioneering work: Prototype of a new fuel
New fuel based on a low enriched uranium-molybdenum alloy
The Technical University of Munich (TUM) and Framatome are working together on the development of a new fuel for the research neutron source Heinz Maier-Leibniz (FRM II). The fuel shall consist of low-enriched, monolithic uranium molybdenum alloy (U-Mo). The first prototypes are expected to be manufactured in early 2021. If the tests are successful, production could start as early as 2022.
The Technical University of Munich and the French fuel element manufacturer Framatome have agreed to collaborate with the aim of producing new, low-enriched fuel elements for the research neutron source Heinz Maier-Leibnitz in Garching north of Munich.
The contract provides for a joint pilot project to manufacture a monolithic U-Mo fuel with an enrichment of 19.75%. It includes the development of a pilot production line and thus the production of fuel plates for radiation tests. These tests are a central part of the qualification of the new fuel especially for research reactors in Europe.
"We have invested many years of research work," says TUM President Prof. Thomas F. Hofmann. "With this project we are on the way to the future. We want to create the basis for the use of safe, low-enriched research neutron sources in science as well as for medical and industrial applications."
First results expected for 2022
Pilot production will be set up at Framatome's new research and development laboratory, the "CERCA Research and Innovation Laboratory", in Romans-sur-Isère in France. Six specialists form the project team, including scientists from TUM.
A TUM PhD student will be working directly at Framatome on the pilot production line from summer 2020. The production line will go into operation as early as the beginning of 2021 and will supply fuel for irradiation tests and qualifying from 2022. In the initial phase, certain sub-steps will be supplied from the TUM laboratories.
Cooperation with Belgium and France
TUM and Framatome are carrying out these irradiation tests within the framework of European projects in which the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), the research institute Laue-Langevin and the Belgian nuclear research centre (SCK-CEN) are also involved.
"The development of this fuel is a big step forward, several international teams have been researching this task for years. The success of this project will be of great importance worldwide", says Prof. Dr. Peter Müller-Buschbaum, scientific director of the FRM II.
Other research reactors worldwide benefit
The monolithic U-Mo fuel opens up new possibilities for conversion to lower enrichment fuels, not only for FRM II, but for research reactors worldwide.
"We are offering research reactors an alternative way to maintain the high neutron flux for research, industry and medicine, while reducing the enrichment of the fuel", says Francois Gauché, Director of Framatome-CERCA.
As soon as this fuel with lower enriched uranium - ideally with an enrichment below 20 percent - is qualified and industrially available, research reactors such as FRM II can start to convert to the new fuel.
More information:
Website about the research on the new fuel with lower enriched uranium:
https://www.frm2.tum.de/en/fuel-development/
Press release about the 10th anniversary of the research neutron source:
https://www.tum.de/nc/en/about-tum/news/press-releases/details/31407/
The Technical University of Munich (TUM) is one of Europe's leading research universities, with around 600 professors, 43,000 students, and 10,000 academic and non-academic staff. Its focus areas are the engineering sciences, natural sciences, life sciences and medicine, combined with economic and social sciences. TUM acts as an entrepreneurial university that promotes talents and creates value for society. In that it profits from having strong partners in science and industry. It is represented worldwide with the TUM Asia campus in Singapore as well as offices in Beijing, Brussels, Cairo, Mumbai, San Francisco, and São Paulo. Nobel Prize winners and inventors such as Rudolf Diesel, Carl von Linde, and Rudolf Mößbauer have done research at TUM. In 2006, 2012 and 2019 it won recognition as a German "Excellence University." In international rankings, TUM regularly places among the best universities in Germany. www.tum.de