Nuclear Reactor Materials and Fuels

Glossary

Austenitic stainless steel:

Austenitic steels contain alloys of chromium and nickel (sometimes manganese and nitrogen) structured around the type 302 stainless steel composition of iron, 18% chromium, and 8% nickel. Austenitic steels are not hardenable by heat treatment. The most common austenitic stainless steel is type 304.

Burnup:

A measure of the energy generated by fuel atoms that undergo fission. It is normally quoted in megawatt-days per metric ton of uranium metal or its equivalent (MWd/MTU).

Core plate:

In a reactor, the upper and lower core plates support the fuel channels and allow the cooling water into the fuel bundle and assures each fuel bundle is maintained equidistant from each other.

Fertile fuel:

A material capable of creating a fissile fuel upon capture of a neutron. Examples are U²³⁸ and Th²³² which create Pu²³⁹ and U²³³, respectively.

Fissile fuel:

Capable of undergoing fission by thermal neutrons. The four primary nuclides are U²³³ U²³⁵, Pu²³⁹, and Pu²⁴¹....