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....
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