Advanced Technologies for the Assessment and Mitigation of Materials Degradation for Light Water Reactor System and Components

The U.S. currently generates 20% of its electricity from 104 nuclear power plants. For the past forty years, the uranium fuel used to generate the heat and electricity in these nuclear power plants has been contained within zircaloy metal cladding. Because the metal oxidizes during long periods of radiation exposure in the reactor and becomes soft whenever the temperature increases due to operational transients, the zirconium metal alloy has reached the limit of its effectiveness. This project will demonstrate low cost, stoichiometric silicon carbide (SiC) ceramic fibers for the multilayer nuclear-fuel-pellet cladding tubes of light water reactors (LWRs). Commercial Applications and other Benefits as described by the awardee:Cladding tubes based on ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) offer the potential of doubling the cycle life and halving the amount of spent nuclear fuel in existing nuclear power plants, resulting in enormous operational cost savings and improved safety. Because over 32 new plants are being considered for licensing and construction in the next ten years, the technology also should impact the performance and efficiency of next generation nuclear power plants.