Method of manufacturing large-grained uranium dioxide fuel pellets containing U3O8

摘要

Disclosed is a method of manufacturing large-grained uranium dioxide pellets through the use of U3O8 single crystals. The method consists of two main steps; producing U3O8 single crystals and manufacturing large-grained UO2 pellets. The U3O8 single crystals are produced by annealing U3O8 powder to make U3O8 polycrystalline aggregates having a large crystal size, and by dividing the U3O8 polycrystalline aggregate into its constituent U3O8 single crystals. Large-grained UO2 pellets are produced by forming a mixture comprising UO2 powder and the U3O8 single crystals, making granules of the mixture, pressing the granules into green pellets, and sintering the green pellets above 1600° C. for more than one hour in a reducing gas. The U3O8 powder is produced preferably by heating defective UO2 pellets in air to oxidize UO2 to U3O8. The invention provides a method of manufacturing a large-grained UO2 pellet with defective pellets reused.