Effect of the heat-treatment temperature of powders on oxide fuel quality

It has been determined at the State Scientific Center of the Russian Federa tion - Physics and Power Engineering Institute in the course of developing a technology for fabricating various fuel compositions (UO2 + MgO, UO2 + Th O2, UO2 + Th + ThO2, PuO2 + MgO, UO2 + Fe + MgO, PuO2 + BaO, and others) fo r fast-neutron and light-water reactors that structural changes in particle aggolmerates occur at the heat-treatment stage. The optimal properties of the powders are obtained at the temperature of the morphological transforma tions of the particles. The fuel pellets prepared from these powders posses s stable density, porosity exterior form, mechanical strength, and so on. T he total specific surface area of the oxides is an indirect parameter for e stimating their quality. Each fuel composition has its own optimal powder h eat-temperature temperature.