Research Progress on Metallic Fuel for Fast Reactor
WANG Ting1, YUN Di2,3,*, DU Peinan1, WU Xiaoyong1,*
1 Nuclear Power Institute of China, Chengdu 610213, China 2 School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China 3 State Key Laboratory of Multi-phase Flow in Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China
Abstract: Metallic fuels are the ideal fuel type for fast reactors, most of the earliest reactors are fueled with metallic forms. Difficulties in achieving high burnup in metallic fuels due to poor dimensional stability and excessive swelling led global fuel research towards ceramic fuels. When the motivation for developing fast reactors is to reduce the storage of radioactive wastes, metallic fuels once again attracted widespread attention. The excellent properties of metallic fuel must be considered alongside its background requirements, composition, microstructure and properties, and manufacture technology. This work mainly summarizes the development of metallic fuels in fast reactor and the research progress on alloy composition and manufacture technology, systematically explains the research characteristics of metallic fuels at different stages, focusing on the inf-luence mechanism of fuel alloy composition on microstructure and properties, as well as the development and optimization of metallic fuel manufacture technology, lists the noteworthy issues in current metallic fuels research, and finally provides a brief outlook on the metallic fuel future research and development.
王挺, 恽迪, 杜沛南, 伍晓勇. 快堆金属燃料的研究进展[J]. 材料导报, 2026, 40(10): 25040205-15.
WANG Ting, YUN Di, DU Peinan, WU Xiaoyong. Research Progress on Metallic Fuel for Fast Reactor. Materials Reports, 2026, 40(10): 25040205-15.
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