Options for Managing Spent TRi-structural ISOtropic Nuclear Fuel

Abstract

During the past few decades, there has been a renewed interest in advanced reactor concepts, especially the high-temperature gas-cooled and the molten salt-cooled technologies for energy production as well as hydrogen or process heat generation. Tri-structural isotropic fuel is intended to be used in some of these emerging reactor technologies. The fuel bearing TRISO particles are encapsulated in graphite, which acts in the capacity of a moderator. TRISO based fuels can be fabricated in the form of spherical pebbles or cylindrical compacts, the latter of which are then loaded into prismatic graphite blocks.