Abstract
Application of ceramics to fuel material is expected to enhance safety for light water reactors due to its chemical and mechanical stability at high temperature, compared with that for metal. Silicon carbide (SiC) ceramic is one of the candidate materials for accident tolerant fuel (ATF). The research and development projects that apply SiC/SiC composite (i.e. a SiC matrix reinforced by SiC fibers) to fuel cladding and BWR channel boxes are currently being conducted in Japan and the US. Toshiba and the partner organizations have launched the research and development efforts, which primary objective is to enhance the safety for light water reactors (LWRs) with the application of ceramics to core material. In collaboration with the partners, Toshiba has initiated a project to develop SiC composite for the application to light water reactors. The objective of the Phase I is to develop a fabrication process with the use of trial models, aiming for future production of e full-scale fuel cladding and channel box made by SiC/SiC composite. During the Phase, trial models in reduced-scale were created with SiC/SiC composite.
