PREPARATION OF TRANSURANIUM FUEL AND TARGET MATERIALS FOR THE TRANSMUTATION OF ACTINIDES BY GEL COCONVERSION

In the fabrication of fuel containing transuranium (TRU) elements, flo w sheets and techniques that allow a shielded and/or remote fabricatio n will probably need to be applied. One approach, which has been demon strated on the laboratory and semiprototype scale, is the wet fabricat ion route of coprecipitation of the matrix element uranium mixed with plutonium to form either dense spherical particles or to produce hybri d pellets made from pressed gel microspheres. The ceramic material pro duced holds the TRU elements homogeneously distributed in the matrix. In conjunction with the Departement d'Etudes des Combustibles of the F rench Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique in Cadarache, France, the Paul Scherrer Institut in Switzerland is further developing a mixed nitrid e ceramic and mixed oxide with high concentrations (up to 50%) of plut onium with the aim of a joint irradiation test of TRU elements in the French Phenix reactor.