Mission

To research and fabricate fuel elements for nuclear research reactors,
developing products and processes concerning nuclear fuels and
correlated areas with quality excellency, aiming technological improvements.

The Nuclear Fuel Center of IPEN is responsible for the production of the nuclear fuel necessary for the continuous operation of the IEA-R1 research reactor. Development of new fuel technologies is also a permanent concern. A program for autonomous serial fuel element production started in the 80's, motivated by the political constraint for buying these fuels abroad and the necessity to maintain the reactor in operation. In September 1988 the first complete fuel assembly of IPEN production was put in the IEA-R1m reactor. Since this time, IPEN has been manufacturing its own fuel element, based on U3O8-Al dispersion fuel plates with 2.3 gU/cm3. In order to increase the radioisotope production of IPEN, the IEA-R1m reactor power capacity will be increased from 2 MW to 5 MW. Also, the reactor utilization routine will be increased to 120 hours of operation by week. In 1997, the development of a new higher uranium density fuel started, in order to attend the reactivity needs for continuous operation, to have a compact core for better irradiation flux and also to have a low number of irradiated fuel elements to be stored at the spent fuel pool. The new fuel is based on the U3Si2-Al dispersion and has uranium loading of 3.1 gU/cm3. The IEA-R1m reactor core has been changed, progressively, from U3O8-Al to U3Si2-Al dispersion fuel assemblies.

The fuel element fabricated at IPEN is a MTR type fuel based on dispersions and uses 20wt% enriched uranium. Both the U3O8-Al and U3Si2-Al fuel are well qualified in reactor operation for average burnup up to 30 %. The U3Si2 fuel has been irradiated at the IEA-R1 reactor since 1999 with good performance. The enriched U3Si2 powder was imported from the international market until 2002, when IPEN started the development of the conversion technology to get the U3Si2 powder using national enriched UF6 produced by CTMSP. Nowadays, the Nuclear Fuel Center is able to fabricate the enriched U3Si2 powder, allowing the nationalization of all the fabrication cycle of the dispersion fuel for research reactors. After mining and enrichment steps, the Center is able to execute all the other fuel fabrication steps. So, Brazil is now totally independent in materials and technology to fabricate nuclear fuels for research and test reactors. This conquest places our country among the few commercial manufacturer countries of LEU high uranium loaded fuel elements for nuclear reseach reactors. The increasing in fuel production capacity is the next action and following the advances in the fuel technology is a permanent challenge.

Michelangelo Durazzo
Manager

R&D activities

• Activities on fusion of U3SI2 (20%U235 enriched) and powder fabrication
• Activities on high density umo fuels fabrication
• Activities on leu metallic uranium production technology
• Fabrication technology of high uranium loaded dispersion fuel elements
• Interdiffusion studies on the UO2-GD2O3 system
• Uranium recovery from slags of metallic uranium
• Activities on high density umo fuels powder fabrication

Products and Services

• Fuel elements for the IEA-R1M research reactor
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Publication list