Abstract
Sol–gel process provides an alternate route for fabrication of ceramic nuclear fuel. The sol–gel process provides several advantages over the conventional powder pellet fabrication process by eliminating handling of radioactive powders. The sol–gel process uses only fluids or fluid like materials, thus become amenable to remote handling. The sol–gel process has been developed for the production of coated particle fuels for High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactors (HTGRs), as sphere-pac fuel for Fast Breeder Reactors (FBRs) and as SGMP fuel for Thermal Reactors. Internal Gelation Process is one of the most important routes of the sol–gel process and has been accepted as the most promising process route globally. Several countries having plutonium or 233U based fuel program have developed sol–gel process for nuclear fuels. In India there is special interest for the development of the sol–gel process for the thorium–uranium fuels keeping in view the large resources of thorium in India. Sol–gel process for fuel fabrication is also very attractive route for closing the nuclear fuel cycle efficiently.
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Acknowledgements
Author thanks Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences DAE India for providing the necessary support. Author thanks all the members of the Sol–Gel team at BARC (of which he was also a member) namely, Dr. S.K. Mukerjee, Shri R.V. Kamat, Shri S. Suryanarayana, Shri S. Venkateswaran, Shri S.B. Rajure, Shri J.K. Joshi, Shri J. Radhakrishna, Dr. N. Kumar, Dr. J.V. Dehadraya, Dr. K.T. Pillai, Shri Ashok Kumar, Dr. A.C. Deb, Shri Rajesh Pai, Shri V.R. Ganatra, Shri Y.R. Bamankar, Shri T.V. Vittal Rao, Shri L.B. Pable, and Dr. D.D. Sood. Author thanks Dr. V. Venugopal Director RC&I Group BARC and Dr. S.K. Aggarwal Head, FCD BARC.
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Author is BRNS Raja Ramanna Fellow.
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Vaidya, V.N. Status of sol–gel process for nuclear fuels. J Sol-Gel Sci Technol 46, 369–381 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-008-1725-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-008-1725-0