FUEL: Tolerant Fuel (ATF)

History

2022: Creation of ATF nuclear fuel

On February 3, 2022, Rosatom announced the creation of a new nuclear fuel, which is said to be cheaper and safer than its counterparts. We are talking about the so-called ATF (Accident Tolerant Fuel) technology.

It was created at VNIINM named after A.A. Bochvara (JSC "VNIINM," part of the Fuel Company "Rosatom" "TVEL"). At the time of the demonstration of development, experimental fuel tablets from uranium disilicide for light-water reactors (VVER and PWR) were manufactured. Nuclear fuel of the new generation of safety has increased heat resistance and low heat capacity, as well as high density and uranium capacity. This means that new fuel will have to be loaded less often into the reactor, which will increase their productivity and reduce the cost of energy and heat generated. At the same time, it will not be necessary to increase the enrichment of uranium-235.

Low heat capacity with high heat conductivity means less stored heat in the reactor core and lower temperature of fuel cladding in emergency modes. Finally, the lower operating temperature of the fuel pellet compared to uranium dioxide contributes to improved fuel performance.

At Rosatom, reactor tests of Russian-designed ATF "tolerant" fuel for light-water reactors have been underway since the beginning of 2019. Experimental fuel assemblies (FAs), which have passed three full cycles of reactor tests in the MIR research reactor at JSC SSC NIIAR, contain fuel elements with four versions of combinations of shell and fuel tablet materials. In September 2021, in the commercial reactor VVER-1000 at power unit No. 2 of the Rostov NPP, the operation of combined TVS-2M began, each of which contains 12 ATF fuel elements.^[1]

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