Development of equipment for automated measurement of nuclear fuel plates

• Grant number: 21/14331-5
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: May 01, 2022
• End date: April 30, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Nuclear Engineering - Nuclear Fuel
• Principal Investigator: Michelangelo Durazzo
• Grantee: Michelangelo Durazzo
• Host Institution: Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas e Nucleares (IPEN). Secretaria de Desenvolvimento Econômico (São Paulo - Estado). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The Brazilian Multipurpose Reactor (RMB) aims to make the country independent in producing radioactive isotopes for medicine. With a power of 30 megawatts, the reactor will have power six times greater than the leading research reactor producing radioisotopes in operation in Brazil, the IEA-R1 reactor at IPEN. IPEN will be the fuel supplier for the RMB, which will consume around 50 fuel elements annually. Currently, the production capacity of IPEN is a maximum of 16 fuel elements per year. In this context, IPEN will have to increase its production capacity and increase the reliability of the fuel produced, since in the RMB the fuel will operate under much more severe conditions than IPEN's IEA-R1 Reactor. Currently, IPEN's infrastructure for the qualification of the fuel produced is prepared to deliver fuels to meet the specification of the IEA-R1 reactor. The manufacturing process of the fuel element for the RMB has already been developed at IPEN, with the help of previous FAPESP projects, and is available. However, the improvement of qualification procedures is still necessary, and this is the main objective of this research project, which proposes a significant expansion of the measurement data of the thickness, length and width of the fuel plate produced for the RMB, increasing, thus, the reliability of the data obtained. New automated measuring equipment has been designed and is partially built, based on a coordinate table, automatically activated measuring sensors, and data acquisition and processing system. The coordinate table is already available and part of the data transmission system for processing by a computer already available. Simulations to study the uncertainties have already been carried out. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

DURAZZO, MICHELANGELO; SOUZA, JOSE ANTONIO BATISTA; CARVALHO, ELITA FONTENELE URANO DE; RESTIVO, THOMAZ AUGUSTO GUISARD; GENEZINI, FREDERICO ANTONIO; NETO, RICARDO MENDES LEAL. Manufacturing high-uranium-loaded dispersion fuel plates in Brazil. ANNALS OF NUCLEAR ENERGY, v. 200, p. 14-pg., 2024-02-06. (07/07769-7, 11/13849-9, 21/14331-5)

KOBAYOSHI, MARCELO; NETO, RICARDO MENDES LEAL; CARVALHO, ELITA FONTENELE URANO DE; DURAZZO, MICHELANGELO. Automated thickness measurement system for nuclear fuel plates: A metrological study. MEASUREMENT, v. 234, p. 13-pg., 2024-05-13. (21/14331-5)

KOBAYOSHI, MARCELO; NETO, RICARDO MENDES LEAL; DE CARVALHO, ELITA FONTENELE URANO; RESTIVO, THOMAZ AUGUSTO GUISARD; DURAZZO, MICHELANGELO. A novel automated thickness measurement method and device for nuclear fuel plates. PROGRESS IN NUCLEAR ENERGY, v. 175, p. 11-pg., 2024-10-01. (21/14331-5)