ENERGY, DEPARTMENT OF has floated a tender for Conductive Inserts to Reduce Nuclear Fuel Temperature. The project location is USA and the tender is closing on 10 Mar 2020. The tender notice number is BA-1127, while the TOT Ref Number is 38891184. Bidders can have further information about the Tender and can request the complete Tender document by Registering on the site.

Expired Tender

Procurement Summary

Country : USA

Summary : Conductive Inserts to Reduce Nuclear Fuel Temperature

Deadline : 10 Mar 2020

Other Information

Notice Type : Tender

TOT Ref.No.: 38891184

Document Ref. No. : BA-1127

Competition : ICB

Financier : Self Financed

Purchaser Ownership : -

Tender Value : Refer Document

Purchaser's Detail

Purchaser : ENERGY, DEPARTMENT OF
Contracting Office Address : Idaho Falls, ID 83415
Primary Point of Contact : Robert Mariani
robert.mariani@inl.gov
Phone Number 2085267826

Secondary Point of Contact : Kala Majeti
suryakala.majeti@inl.gov
Phone Number 2085264503
USA
Email :robert.mariani@inl.gov

Tender Details

Conductive Inserts to Reduce Nuclear Fuel Temperature

Active Contract Opportunity

Notice ID : BA-1127

Related Notice

Department/Ind. Agency : ENERGY, DEPARTMENT OF

Sub-tier : ENERGY, DEPARTMENT OF

Office : BATTELLE ENERGY ALLIANCE DOE CNTR

General Information

Contract Opportunity Type: Combined Synopsis/Solicitation (Updated)

All Dates/Times are: (UTC-05:00) EASTERN STANDARD TIME, NEW YORK, USA

Updated Published Date: Dec 11, 2019 11:19 am EST

Original Published Date: Dec 10, 2019 09:40 am EST

Updated Date Offers Due: Mar 10, 2020 11:00 am EDT

Original Date Offers Due: Mar 10, 2020 11:00 am EDT

Inactive Policy: 15 days after date offers due

Updated Inactive Date: Mar 25, 2020

Original Inactive Date: Mar 25, 2020

Initiative: None


Classification

Original Set Aside:



Product Service Code: AG54 - R&D- ENERGY: NUCLEAR (ENGINEERING DEVELOPMENT)

NAICS Code: 221113 - Nuclear Electric Power Generation

Place of Performance: Idaho Falls, ID 83415 USA

Description

Researchers at INL have found that placement of novel conductive inserts with UO2 fuel pellets will dissipate heat efficiently, allowing the fuel to operate at much lower temperature. The inserts act as cooling fins, producing large peak temperature drops in the fuel.

One design incorporates six radial fins issuing from the center of the pellet. Among the scenarios analyzed, using molybdenum resulted in a peak temperature drop of 842 C at a linear heat generation rate of 500 W/cm. The second design involves thin alternating discs of molybdenum (50 microns) sandwiched between thin discs of UO2 (95 microns). In this scenario, the temperature drop was even more significant, 995 C at 500 W/cm. In both scenarios, only 5% of the UO2 volume was taken up by the thermal conductors.

While we performed a variety of parametric analyses on factors such as thermal conductivity of the inserts, the geometry and volume of thermal conductors, the two designs described provide significant temperature reductions while taking up very little UO2 volume. These novel designs would benefit not only SMR and micro-reactor applications at enrichments greater than 5%, but also could benefit uprates and increased burnups at the current commercial limit of 5% enrichment, because of sustained thermal conductivity throughout the lifetime of the fuel.

Our results point to the need for irradiation studies and further analyses, and their prompt communication can accelerate developments across these research fronts. Experimental and modeling efforts are underway.

Idaho National Laboratory (INL), managed and operated by Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC (BEA), is offering the opportunity to enter into a collaborative research agreement, potentially leading to an exclusive license, to commercialize this technology....

Documents

 Tender Notice