Irradiation Performance of Diffusion-Barrier Coated U-Mo/Al Fuel

The effects of diffusion barrier coatings on the fuel performance of U-Mo/Al dispersion fuel have been investigated by forming silicide or nitride layers on atomized U-Mo alloy particles. The post irradiation examination of the diffusion-barrier coated U-Mo/Al dispersion fuel rods exhibited a sound fuel performance of advanced dispersion fuels for research reactors. Nitride-coated or silicide-coated U-Mo particles showed a reduced interaction layer growth against a pure Al matrix. When the interaction layer thicknesses of the well-coated particles were compared, silicide-coated particles were shown to have thinner interaction layers than nitride-coated particles. It has been also confirmed that the addition of Ti or Zr to U-Mo with a combination of an Al-Si matrix is more effective in reducing the interaction layer growth than the Si addition to the Al matrix only.

Biographical Sketch

Prof. Ho Jin Ryu is an associate professor at the Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering of Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, a 60th-ranked university, with a 14th-ranked Materials Science Program in the world by QS World University Rankings. He holds B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from KAIST, and had worked as a Principal Researcher at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) from 2000 to 2013. While at KAERI, he was a visiting scholar at US Argonne National Laboratory (ANL, Argonne, IL, USA, 2005-07), and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA, Vienna, Austria, 2009-2011). He have over 60 journal publications in the area of metallic nuclear fuels for non-proliferation, oxide dispersion strengthened alloys, and refractory materials. His global contributions to nuclear and materials science have been recognized by 2012 Korean Federation of Science and Technology Society Award and 2013 Ministerial Prize awarded by the Korean Government - Ministry of Foreign Affairs.