Use of Field Assisted Sintering for Innovation in Nuclear Ceramics Manufacturing

Abstract

The recent introduction of electric Field Assisted Sintering Techniques (FAST) to actinide materials has enabled new scientific and technological applications by increasing the choices of achievable compositions and microstructures. Although FAST are state-of-the-art tools in non-nuclear ceramics and powder metallurgy research, actinide ceramics have been only very recently studied, partially because of the difficulties in handling radioactive powders. In the last five years new actinides-containing materials that were hardly conceivable only few years ago were realised. Nanostructured actinide oxides, high thermal conductivity composites as accident tolerant fuels, ceramic fuels and nuclear waste forms embedding volatile fission products, as well as long-lasting radioisotope power sources for space exploration are just some of the new possibilities. This article thoroughly reviews the literature on the use of Spark Plasma Sintering and Flash Sintering for new actinide ceramics, and their future applications in the nuclear fuel cycle and in space exploration.