Application of Weak Acid Resin process to the production of spherical and calibrated oxide precursor bearing uranium and americiumoverview of 10 years research at CEA

S. Picart (1) , T. Delahaye (1) , J.-P. Bayle (1) , A. Gauthé (1) , I. Jobelin (1) , J. Dauby (1) , E. Remy (1) , P. Parant (1) , M. Caisso (1) , H. Mokhtari (1) , P. Blanchart (2) , L. Martin C (3) , A. Ayral (4)

1 CEA-DES (ex-DEN) - CEA-Direction des Energies (ex-Direction de l'Energie Nucléaire)
2 CEC - Centre européen de la céramique
3 PRES Université de Grenoble
4 IEM - Institut Européen des membranes

This paper is dedicated to the adaptation of the Weak Acid Resin process (WAR) to the elaboration of uranium-americium mixed oxide microspheres as precursors for the fabrication of Americium Bearing Blankets (AmBB). It describes successive developments of WAR process from lanthanide simple oxide synthesis to actinide(s) bearing mixed oxide preparation. Recent studies demonstrated the scientific feasibility of the preparation of a dense uranium-americium mixed oxide pellets with 10 $_{at}$% of Am vs heavy metal and with 95 % of theoretical density (TD) from those innovative microsphere precursors

Keywords: conversion; uranium; americium; oxide; transmutation; resin; microspheres; nuclear; fuel; pellet.

Domains: Physics [physics]; Nuclear Experiment [nucl-ex]; Physics [physics]; Nuclear Theory [nucl-th]

S. Picart, T. Delahaye, J.-P. Bayle, A. Gauthé, I. Jobelin, et al.. Application of Weak Acid Resin process to the production of spherical and calibrated oxide precursor bearing uranium and americiumoverview of 10 years research at CEA. Global 2015 - International Nuclear Fuel Cycle Conference, Sep 2015, Paris, France. ⟨cea-02509149⟩