[K-SCIENCE] Accident-resistant Nuclear Fuel Rod

Many remember the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan, that took place in 2011.

The disaster was caused by an earthquake and subsequent tsunami which disabled the power generators that supplied power to cool the reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. The destruction led to The insufficient cooling led to three nuclear meltdowns, hydrogen-air explosions, and the release of radioactive materials.

A South Korean team of researchers has developed technology to combine the nuclear fuel rod with silicon carbide (SiC) which can withstand extreme temperatures of up to 1,500 degrees Celsius and has good thermal conductivity.

[Park Jeong-Hwan, researcher, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute]
"(The technology) enables silicon carbide to be used as a cladding material for jacket pipes, so the new jacket pipe (coated with SiC), as an excellent accident-resistant jacket pipe, is expected to replace the conventional ones in the nuclear power generation sector."

The essence of the new technology is how to precisely stack layers of silicon carbide particles on metallic surfaces by using a 3D-printing process.

The new fuel rod bonded with silicon carbide has been rising as a "futuristic all-around hybrid" material.

The size of the global composites market is estimated at 50 billion U.S. dollars and expected to rapidly grow further, in the wake of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.