Preliminary Study of Frequency-Variable Vibration Packing Fabrication for Atomized Metallic Particulate Fuel Using Surrogate Spherical Powder

An alternative fabrication method for metallic fuel in Gen-IV reactor was introduced with vibration packing of nuclear fuel particles to facilitate remote fabrication in a hot cell and reduce the generation of long-lived radioactive wastes. Vibration packing experiments on metallic particulate fuel using a surrogate 316L stainless steel powder were done to investigate the packing density and the uniformity of the simulated fuel according to the filling method and the vibration condition. Metallic particulate fuel filled with a pre-mixed power over all particles had the highest packing fraction and the most uniform distribution among the filling methods. The vibration packing method showed that it could fabricate the metallic particulate fuel having uniform distribution of spherical fuel particles through the adjustment of the filling method of the metallic powder and the vibration condition of the metallic particulate fuel.