Achievement of world's best performance in Japanese LWR, through the successful development on fuels and materials

Abstract

Research and development on fuel and cladding materials in the past 40 years, which led to the excellent performance of today's Japanese LWR are overviewed. Most of the programs for the development of LWR fuels and Zircaloy cladding tube have been conducted by the author, starting from the metal uranium fuel rod for the research reactor JRR-3, then going on to the domestic production of fuel for the power-demonstration reactor JPDR. LWR fuel fabrication has been successfully performed on these bases together with the research and development work on Zircaloy tube fabrication technology among metal industries. Fundamental works and co-operative studies among specialists from every related field have been effectively combined with the development works among industry, which contributed to the achievement of the world's top level fuel and thus to the excellent performance of 36 LWRs in Japan, today.