How new fuels could make nuclear energy safer

US researchers are developing new forms of nuclear fuel that will be more tolerant to accidents such as at Fukushima eight years ago.

“What we are looking at is actually changing out the fuel,” says Elizabeth Sooby Wood, an assistant professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio, which has received funding for the project from the US Department of Energy. “We want to replace conventional fuel with something that has higher thermal conductivity, so if we do have an accident, the stored energy in the core is reduced.”

A single pellet of uranium dioxide fuel used in a nuclear plant can produce the same amount of energy as 150 gallons of oil, but it’s much harder to control the reaction, and when safeguards fail – as at Fukushima – disaster can ensue. 

Uranium silicide might be used instead of uranium dioxide. The project will research ways to synthesise uranium silicide and test the use of additives to enhance the oxidation resistance of the material, as part of a raft of safety measures being developed by the industry. 

“Our understanding of these chemical reactions and the impact to the core materials has come a long way – along with the development of new materials that we can deploy as cladding,” says Wood.