FUEL AND FUEL CYCLE | TRIGA


Uprating TRIGA fuel production


After decades of production in the USA, an uprated facility in France is now producing TRIGA uranium zirconium hydride fuel for use in both research reactors and a new generation of smaller SMRs


Above: Despite producing very high power pulses the TRIGA reactor is a very safe design


TRIGA – TRAINING, RESEARCH, ISOTOPES, General Atomics – is a nuclear reactor model designed by General Atomics and used for research and training activities by scientific institutions and universities. There are currently 36 TRIGA reactors in operation around the world. The TRIGA reactor uses unique low-enriched, long-lifetime uranium zirconium hydride (UZrH) fuel which has desirable characteristics of a large negative fuel temperature coefficient. This means that as the temperature rises, reactivity rapidly decreases and


28 | November 2022 | www.neimagazine.com


while the reactor can be briefly pulsed to very high energy outputs (up to 22 GW reported) it is a very safe design. The fuel is the fundamental feature of the TRIGA family of reactors and accounts for its widely recognised safety, rugged, dependable performance, economy of operation, and its acceptance worldwide. Along with on-going research programmes, reactor designers have been inspired by the TRIGA fuel design and technology and are currently exploring applications


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